The strength of one's soul
by Light C. F
Summary: Chance and Jake are starting their training/education with DWMA. A chance encounter puts them together as partners and quick best friends. How will the duo deal with the pressures of DWMA and living with one another? Especially due to Jake's secret and Chance's past. Rated M for latter chapters as well as semi-frequent cursing.
1. Chapter 1: Let's Do It Partner! (Part 1)

Chapter 1: "Let's do it, Partner!"

Jake Clawson is sitting in the living room of his apartment. It is a small apartment with a kitchenette, bathroom, living room and one bedroom. He was just finishing watching his favorite program, _The David Litterbin Show_ and decided to finally get to bed. It was about midnight, typical for Jakes bedtime since his favorite show got a later air time.

Jake got off of the couch and began to walk down the hallway to his bedroom, turning off all of the lights as he left the room. When Jake opened the door to the bedroom, he was welcomed with a sight that never ceases to amuse him. Chance Furlong was asleep on his own bed on the left side of the room. Chance was sleeping in his boxers, his butt in the air, his comforter lying on the floor and was snoring. This is how Chance usually ended up when he went to bed. Jake gave a silent laugh and smiled as he went to his bed on the right side of the room. Jake stripped to his boxers and laid down. The soft light from the moon slightly illuminated to the room through the skylight that they were lucky enough to have come with the apartment.

Jake turned to lay on his side so that he was facing Chances bed. He laughed again seeing the same sight from before. He looked over Chance for a couple seconds, and then himself, he sighed quietly. He couldn't help but be a little jealous of Chances well built figure. He might have had a bit a chubby belly and a round face, but he was quite muscular and that was evident even through his thick fur. Jake was muscular too, but he was lithe and small, it made him seem a lot less impressive in his mind.

"Whatever." Jake said quietly, quickly shrugging it of. He moved to lay on his back and raised his left arm up. With a slight flash his arm turned to a silver, almost metallic look, and a blade extended from his wrist forward. Jake smirked.

"I still got this on him!" he said quietly with a grin. Jake changed his arm back to normal and resumed his previous position. Just as Jake began to drift off to sleep...

"unh...Jake stop..." Chance said in a low mumble

Jake opened his eyes and looked at Chance. Chance was obviously still asleep as his snoring hadn't ceased. Jake had become very accustomed to Chances snoring and he usually didn't notice it.

"Must've been my imagination..." Jake sighed. He tried to go to sleep again but his thoughts continued to bombard him. "Damn it" Jake sighed. "Why did I have to start thinking now?" Jake has had problems with getting to sleep many times do to his rather high IQ. When he started thinking it was like a train ride, he could want it to end all he wanted, but it most likely wouldn't until his thoughts reached their destination, whatever that may be.

Jakes thoughts began to culminate. "What if he did say that?" "What could he be dreaming of?" "Why would he have said my name?" "Is he...?" Jake groaned and rubbed his palms on his eyes. "There's no way Chance could be gay, I think I'm just trying to get my hopes up" He thought.

Jake had always had a thing for Chance since the day they had met, but he had no way of knowing if Chance had the same feelings. Jake might have been more hopeful, if it weren't for the fact that Chance seemed to flirt with almost every girl he talked to, especially Jackie.

Jake began to think back to the day that he had met his best friend, his partner, his brother and his secret love interest.

* * *

"Yeah!" Today's finally the day I get to go to DWMA!" Jake said with pride ad he stretched his arm toward the sun. "I wonder if I'll find a partner I really meld with?" Jake questioned, soon accompanied with a grimace. He lowered his arm, "What if I don't find a partner?" Jake stood for a second, motionless. He then grinned widely, "Guess I'll just have to show those kishin on my own then hunh?" Jake snapped back into reality after noticing that he had been talking to himself and blushed slightly, wondering if he had been heard by anyone.

Jake picked up his pace and quickly found himself in front of the towering school. He couldn't help but gawk at the interesting architecture. The school was perfectly symmetric, three large skull like entrances were at the front with three red needle looking structures protruding from them and four towers behind them, the two smaller towers at the center and the slightly larger ones beside them. With one large tower on each end of the school and the trademark gigantic candles extruding from the front, it was no less than a masterpiece. "Damn, it looked amazing from afar but up close amazing barely begins to describe it!" Jake said

Just then Shinigami, the facilitator and more or less principle of the school came to the top of the steps in the courtyard of the school where everyone was gathered. All of the aspiring students fell silent and waited intently for him to start speaking. Jake took a quick moment to look over Shinigami-sama. He couldn't help but associate him to a grim reaper-Esq look aside from his skull mask that resembled the school entrances and his huge, blocky, white glove looking hands.

"YOOOOOOO!" Shingami greeted the students

Jake drooped his head and let out a slight sigh with a single sweat drop going down his face. "Just a bit on the informal side aren't we Shinigami-sama?" Jake looked around and found that a lot of prospective students were wearing the same expression.

"I welcome all of you to Shibusen." Said a red haired man standing to Shinigamis right. "Or as it's also known, the DWMA (Death Weapon Meister Acadamy). It stands as a defense against the forces of evil, which would plunge the world into chaos and drag humanity into the very depths of fear and madness. The demons known as Kishin, and their eternal hunger for destruction. To ensure that the Kishin never regain their hold on this world, this Academy was founded by the Grim Reaper, Death himself. That being said take this time to mingle with your fellow students and get acquainted, perhaps even find a partner!" The red haired man stopped

"YOU HEARD SPIRIT-KUN! MINGLE!" Shinigami roared.

Jake had gone back to wearing his face that he had made when Shinigami first began speaking.

"Shinigami-sama isn't that just a bit informal?" questioned the man known as Spirit.

Shinigami raised his right hand into a chopping fashion. "SHINIGAMI-CHOP!" he screamed as he hit Spirit square on his head. Spirit was laid out, cold and unresponsive. A she-kat wrapped almost completely in bandages came out and began to drag Spirit away. Jake couldn't help but wince at the amount of strength that Shinigami-sama was able to put into a single chop.

Shinigami began to walk away, and Jake perked his ears up thinking he had heard something peculiar. He looked around and saw a student wearing a welcoming community badge causing an uproar...by himself. Jake couldn't make out what he was saying so he simply shrugged it off and walked away. A couple hours went by and Jake had talked with some of the other weapons and meisters. While fun to talk to the only ones he found that may have been a possibility for his partner were already taken. Jake sighed and started to walk away from the already dissipating crowd.

Jake was already a good distance away from the school, he was heading toward a friends house that he had been staying with until he could get his own apartment. He was hoping to rent one with his eventual partner so that costs would be relatively lower. He could have taken a school dorm, but decided against that with the horror stories he had heard about the men's bathrooms. "Ugh" Jake shook his head. "Oh well, this was only the introductory day, maybe I can meet someone at orientation tomorrow. Besides, I still have a couple of weeks before class actually starts."

Jake turned and walked through an alley way that he had been through here many times over the past week while he went around the city trying to familiarize himself with it. Jake exited the alley way on the other side and came across the basketball court near the park. Jake looked over the park and found no one there. "Hunh, I guess introduction day has everyone off doing other things." Jake stopped for a moment and sighed. "Probably with their new-found partners."

Jake started to walk again, but stopped when he heard a faint chuckle from behind. Jake whirled around to see four boys about his age walking toward him.

"Aww look at that, poor little kat is all by his lonesome. Don't you know it's dangerous in this part of town at this time?" said the tallest one of them. He was tall, but not really that built. His hair was long and gangly. The three others spread a bit apart and walked a couple steps closer to Jake. To the Tall one's left was a short, muscular tom. The other two, to the tall humans right were also human and looked almost like twins, they were both mid sized, with short brown hair and the same doofy grin.

"It's only four, I think I'll be fine." Jake said flatly, narrowing his eyes.

"Are you sure about that?" said the twins, in creepy unison.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Jake pried. He knew all to well that these guys probably wanted to do him harm. He tried to assess the situation as best he could. He could risk fighting them all off, after all he was a weapon and could put up a good fight without a meister. He could also run, his friends house was only a couple blocks away, he was sure he could out-speed at least three of them. Jake voted that running would be the better option, any of them could also be weapons and/or meisters, he would be on the losing end if that were true. His four instigators took a few more steps toward him. Jake stepped back and gasped when he felt his back against the wall, literally and figuratively. He looked for a possible escape route and found only one, and his path was blocked by the two twins. "Damn" Jake thought.

"Because this is where we hang out, everyone knows that." The tall one said, replying to Jake's previous statement. He grinned as he finally walked right next to Jake. Jake clenched his fist, but didn't swing, if it could be avoided he didn't want a fight."How about you give us all of your money?" Jake didn't take his eyes off of the tall one. He reached into his back pocket where he held his wallet and took it out, removing all of the money from it and handed it to the tall one. "Thanks!" he said while hastily snatching the bills from Jake's paw. The tall one saw a shine come from Jake's paw that he took the money from. "And how about that watch you're wearing too?" The tall human reached for Jake's wrist where the watch was, only to be stopped by Jake grabbing onto his arm.

"You don't touch that!" Jake spat.

"Try and stop me!" said the tall one. He swung his fist at Jake. Jake swiftly moved his face out of the contact zone and laid into the the punks face with a right straight. The three other punks gasped, no one had the balls to hit their ring-leader before with all of them around. "Damn you..." said the tall one holding onto his now bleeding nose, "..now you're gonna get it!" At that moment the other three punks moved next Jake, the two twins each held onto and arm and the stockier one held onto Jake's legs to completely keep him from moving.

"Now this is fighting dirty!" Jake spat. "You think I give a damn?" said the tall one, who pulled out a switch-blade as he neared Jake. Jakes eyes widened as the tall one was only feet away from him. When he was within striking distance the tall one slashed at Jake with his blade, leaving a large but shallow cut on Jakes chest. Jake yowled in pain as blood began to seep through the newly open wound.

"Sky, isn't that a bit much?" the stocky one asked

"Shut up! Now are you gonna cooperate or..." the tall one placed his blade at Jake's throat, "...does this have to get ugly?"

"Is there a problem here?" a voice came from the alley Jake had originally planned his escape. All of the boys looked over to the alley to see a tall muscular tom walking toward them. The tom stood at about 6 feet and was well built. His fur hid his muscle definition but his muscles were evident when he moved. His fur was a nice blonde color and he had stripes along the back of his arms, they looked like they extended to his back as well, but his shirt covered those if he did have them. He was dressed in a pair of jeans with small cuts here and there, a red shirt with a "*68" logo and he carried a backpack in his right paw.

"Tch, none that you need to worry about." replied the one named Sky

"Oh really cause to me it looks like four guys are ganging up to rob..." The tom took a quick look over to Jake and saw his cut, blood stained shirt, "...mug this kat.

Sky moved his blade from Jake's throat and pointed it toward the new tom. "Get the fuck out of here if you know what's good for you buddy."

The new tom dropped his backpack and cracked his knuckles, "Funny that you call me buddy when I'm about to kick your collective asses, besides" the tom added a smirk "I don't think I would _ever_ associate myself with scum like you!"

"GET 'IM" Sky demanded. The two twins let go of Jake and rushed at the new tom. The stocky tom went from holding Jake's legs to standing next to Sky. Jake turned and was ready to run and help the tom, however with only two punches the twins were laid out cold.

"Whoa" gasped Jake

The new tom looked back to Sky and his stocky cohort. "Do we need to continue or can we stop here?" he questioned, not really expecting an answer

"NOW YOUR GONNA GET IT!" screamed Sky. "Drake NOW!"

"Gotcha Sky!" With his command the stocky tom shone brightly and turned into a tri-point lance, almost resembling a stereotypical trident. The stocky tom, Drake, had in fact turned out to be a death weapon and the tall boy Sky was a weapon meister, Jakes predictions were accurate. Without any warning Sky lunged at the tom.

The toms eyes widened and he prepared to possibly guard against the threatening blow. Before the impact the tom inadvertently closed his eyes. The sound of metal on metal rang throughout the park. The tom opened his eyes to see Jake standing in front of him, his arm clad in silver and a red and black blade protruding from his wrist, blocking the oncoming attack from the two punks."What?" Sky retreated back a few steps from Jake and the other tom. "You're a weapon?!"

"Thanks there captain obvious" replied Jake.

"Damn it" said Sky as he turned and began to run off, "We'll get you eventually!" Soon the two twins got up from their beating and followed their ring leaders suit.

Jake turned his arm back to normal and turned to face the tom that helped him. "Hey thanks. Who's to say what they would've done had you not come along."

The tom gave Jake a quick smile, but that quickly turned into a look of worry when he looked back to Jake's wound across his chest. "Oh damn! That cut! are you alright?" the tom began to inspect the wound.

"Yeah, it stopped bleeding. Guess being a weapon has it's perks" Jake said while sticking out his tongue. The tom smiled at Jake's lightheartedness

"Well, you should still get it cleaned." The tom went to his backpack and pulled out a shirt. He walked back to Jake and held it out to him, "Here, it'll be big on you...well _really_ big on you," the tom chuckled, Jake responded with a glare, "but it's prolly better than wearing a torn, bloody shirt right?"

Jake looked down and saw that the blood began drying on his shirt and had stained it red and brown. "I guess" Jake chuckled when he put the shirt on. The tom was right, it was _really _big on him, it hung down past his groin and was so big on his that one shoulder was hanging out. "Thanks!" Jake tossed the torn shirt to the ground.

"Not a problem at all!" replied the tom, "come on I'll take you by my place and we'll get that all patched up for ya" the tom pointed to Jakes chest then made a gesture with his paw signaling Jake to follow.

"Well.." Jake paused. He was gonna tell the tom that his friend was only a couple blocks away, besides he usually would have just said no anyway, but … he actually _wanted_ to say yes. "Sure!" Jake said after a couple seconds. He trotted over to where the tom was standing.

"By the way.." the tom stuck out his paw "The name's Chance Furlong"

Jake smiled and grabbed Chances paw in his. "And mines Jake Clawson, nice to meet ya Chance!" he replied as they shook paws


	2. Chapter 1: Let's Do It Partner! (Part 2)

Chapter 1: "Let's do it, partner!" (part 2)

The two walked a few blocks away from the park, on the way they talked about a couple things. They found out they generally like the same music, although Jake was into dub-step and Chance was appalled by it, same going for Chance's love of metal core. They found that both of them loved spicy foods, they had both just moved to Death City and that both of them were attending DWMA at the start of the year.

"So I'm guessing your a meister?" Jake questioned

"Now what makes you say that?" Chance chuckled playfully. He was walking nonchalantly with his paws behind his head. Truthfully he was showing off his muscles but he wouldn't say that aloud.

"Well you didn't go weapon form at all during that fight."

"Hah! With these I wouldn't need to use my weapon form!" Chance said, flexing his arms with a smirk. Now he semi-admitted it.

"Then what would've happened when that Sky kid came at you with the spear?"

Chance stopped dead in his tracks with a vacant stare on his face,"Shut up" he said pouting, causing Jake to laugh. "By the way I never thanked you for that."

"No need to, I would've done that regardless." Jake stopped and looked at his new found friend. "Look, I said it earlier but again, thanks so much for helping me, who knows where that could have went if you hadn't come along" a shudder went through Jake's body as he said that. He may have thought he could take all of them on earlier, but now, thinking back, the realization hit him that he would've died had that went much further. Jake grabbed his arms in his paws and he began to shake with fear.

Chance put a paw on Jake's shoulder. Jake quickly looked up at Chance to see him giving him a warm smile, "Don't worry about it, it's like you said I would've done that regardless. And if those punks _ever_ try that shit with you again, they have to go through me buddy." _Buddy_. That word alone made Jake smile broadly. "But..." Chance said wrapping an arm around Jake's shoulders and giving him a noogie, "...I still wanna say thanks, so how about I order us some pizza when we get to my apartment?!" Chance sounded just as excited about that as Jake looked.

"Sure!" Jake said, clearly having recovered, "Although you'll think I'm a freak when I tell you what I want on it."

"Try me." Chance responded.

"Mango peppers and anchovies!" responded Jake, his mouth watering at just the thought.

"NO WAY! THAT'S MY FAVORITE!" responded Chance. "Jake I think this is the start of a radical friendship!" said Chance, still holding Jake's shoulder

The two only laughed as they continued to walk to Chances apartment.

* * *

"Alright this is it" said Chance when two walked up to apartment 207. It turns out that Chances apartment is only a couple blocks from Jake's friends house, they just ended up taking the long way because Chance had been all too distracted with their conversation. "Rather I should say this is the temporary apartment" Chance said as he fiddled with his keys.

"Temporary?" Jake questioned

"Yeah, the landlord is making renovations on the apartment I'm actually renting, so..." Chance opened the door after he finally unlocked it, "...for now this is casa de Furlong" he said smiling. Chance walked in the door followed by Jake. Jake gave a quick look around and saw a simple set up. There was a nice looking leather couch in the living room, everything else was definitely temporary. There was a tv atop a box, a coffee table, and a few pillows and a couple blankets lying around. In the kitchen was a single table and a few dishes lying on the counter-top. "Sorry about the mess in the living room, I forgot to clean up after I woke up this morning." said Chance

"You sleep in the living room?" Jake questioned

"Yeah, I didn't wanna set up my bed until I actually moved into my apartment, right now most of the place is occupied by boxes." Chance laughed as he opened the fridge. "Here!" he said as he tossed a can of milk to Jake.

"Thanks" Jake said, catching the can and immediately opening it.

"Come on," Chance motioned with his paw to the back of the apartment, "I have a first aid kit in the bathroom we can clean up that cut there." Jake swallowed some of the milk and then followed Chance to the bathroom. Chance flipped the light as he walked into the first door on the left side. Chance really didn't set up anything in the apartment, the shower didn't even have a shower curtain on it!

"So I take it you haven't showered in a while," Jake said as he pinched his nose jokingly

Chance looked confused, then Jake pointed to the curtain-less tub. "Nah, I've had to take baths because ..."

"You're too lazy to put up a curtain?" Jake cut him off

Chances expression sagged, "Shut up" he replied jokingly. "Come on sit down while I get the kit out." Jake took a seat on the lidded toilet and took of the shirt Chance gave him while waiting on him. Chance walked back with the kit and pulled out a few things; cleansing pads, gauze, and antibacterial ointment. "Alright this might sting a bit" said Chance as he pulled out one of the pads and began to wipe over the wounded area. Jake winced at the pain but that was about it. After chance had thoroughly cleaned over the wound he applied a small amount of ointment across it's entirety and the wrapped the gauze around Jakes chest. "Alright, all patched up" said Chance giving Jake a gentle pat on his chest.

"Thanks buddy!" Jake said as he put Chance's shirt back on

"Alright how about I go and order those pizzas?"

"Sure! Wait, more than one?" Jake questioned.

Chance blushed and rubbed the back of his head, tussling his fur "yeah I'm kind of a big eater."

Jake poked Chance's belly, "I can see that" he said as he smirked. Jake drew his finger back in shock when Chance's belly actually gave under the pressure.

Chance blushed further. "Don't do that!" Chance said, obviously embarrassed.

"Sorry, I'm just kidding, so what if you have a bit of a belly anyway? I can almost down a whole medium by myself anyway. Now if you could down a whole large.." Jake trailed off as he and Chance walked back out the the living room. He looked back and saw Chance still blushing, "You've got to be _kidding _me!" he said, responding to Chances blush. "Where the fuck do you put all of that?"

Chance rubbed his head again, "My mom used to ask the same thing, hahaha" he laughed. Chance went to the kitchen while he called his favorite pizza place with his cell. "Hey Marty! Yeah the usual but..."

Jake went to sit on the couch when he noticed something by the TV. He looked over and noticed Chances black Xbox 360 sitting next to it. "Whoa!" he exclaimed as Chance walked into the living room.

"Wanna play on it?" questioned Chance. Jake looked back at Chance with a gleam in his eye, more than answering his question. "Here hang on, I've got an awesome idea!" Chance walked down the hallway toward the bedroom. After a few minutes, Chance came back carrying a _Rock Band_ guitar and mic. "Damn, I couldn't find my_ Rock Band _3 but I found 2. Here, catch! It should be synched." Chance said as he tossed Jake the mic. Jake more or less juggled the mic as he attempted to catch it before it rested in his palm making Chance chuckle.

"Umm I can't exactly sing" Jake said as he blushed, making his already cinnamon fur even darker. He was lying, Jake found that he was actually a pretty decent singer when he had heard a recording Jackie had made while he was in the shower. He was lying out of nervousness.

"Well it's either you or me singing, and personally I think that I sound like a kat getting run over. Come on, I'm sure you'll be good at it if ya just try." Chance gave Jake an almost expectant look, widening his hazel eyes. Jake didn't know why but he couldn't say no to that face.

"Damn his face is so cute! And those eyes.."Jake thought. Now he knew why no wasn't an option. "Fine." Jake said after he shook himself out of his thoughts. Chance jumped up and pumped his fist in the air. Jake laughed at the gesture and quickly reverted back to his earlier thoughts. "Goddamn it Jake! You just met the guy!" he thought. Chance began to scroll through the song list when a certain song caught Jake's eye. "Oh! Do the Linkin Park one!"

Chance looked over at Jake. "Don't tell me Linkin Park is your favorite band." Chance asked in near disbelief.

"Top-ten all-time favorites!" Jake replied.

"Wow next you'll be telling me we have the same favorite movie." Jake and Chance looked at each other for a second before simultaneously saying "ALIEN!" They both stood there mouths agape until Chance suddenly picked Jake up into a big bear hug. "Goddamn I love you already!" He said. Jake blushed, he knew Chance was joking but still.

"Ah let go of me!" Jake managed to eek out.

"What? Hugging you this quickly creep ya out?" Chance pried jokingly.

"No you're KILLING ME!" Jake yelled.

Chance immediately let Jake go and Jake stood and caught his breath for a second. "Damn... biggest... bear hug...ever.." Jake said through stammered breaths. Chance scratched his cheek, "Sorry, sometimes I forget just how strong I am." Chance flexed his arms after he said that.

Jake stared for a second, "And the fact that you have a slight belly embarrasses you." he said, shaking his head.

Chance just laughed. "Come on let's play already!" he picked up his guitar again and Jake picked up the mic. Chance picked the song and it soon began. Chance played the first guitar riffs excellently and began to bang his head to the beat when it picked up. Jake waited in anticipation for the lyrics, he knew the song by heart almost.

The first lyrics came up, "I cannot take this anymore.." Jake was off tune and did the lyrics too fast. "Come on!" he thought. The second verse came up, "I'm saying everything I've said before.." Jake's nervousness was apparent.

Chance paused the game in the middle of his guitar riff and put a paw on Jake's shoulder. "Just relax buddy. I don't care if your good or not, just have fun with it!" Jake looked over to see Chances face, almost expressionless, but sincere at the same time. It put Jake at ease. Jake sighed, not out of annoyance but more of like a weight was lifted off his shoulders. He didn't know why but he felt that he could be himself around Chance and it wouldn't matter, he has felt nothing but at ease, for the most part, since he started hanging out with him."Sorry just a bit rusty." was the excuse he came up with. "Fuck trepidation" Jake thought. He turned to Chance with a grin, "alright..LET'S ROCK!"

Chance returned the smirk, "Cliche but I'll let it slide," and then he continued the song.

* * *

"..Cause I'm one step closer to the edge and I'm about to …. BREAK!" With that the song finished and

Chance looked at Jake with sheer awe. "He's more than good, he's fucking fantastic!" he thought. "Dude where did you learn to sing like that?" he questioned.

Jake looked over at him, still kinda in the moment, and blushed when he comprehended what Chance was asking him. "Well me and the shower head were best friends for a while" he said while sticking his tongue out.

Chance chuckled, "You seriously have talent dude!" Chance replied. Jake smiled and blushed even further, it was completely visible through his dark fur and it only made Chance laugh even more.

"Speak for yourself, you didn't even miss a note" Jake said while looking at Chance's perfect score.

"Yeah, I actually play guitar so this is cake!" Chance responded

Just then there was a knock on the door, "Yo Chance! Next time you order pizza don't do it so late!" said the person.

"Yeah, yeah Marty hang on!" Chance said as he picked up his wallet from the kitchenette counter and went to the door.

Jake looked at the clock and saw that it was 9:30. "Damn it is late." Jake said.

Chance came back to the living room with the pizzas and set them down on the small table in the center. "Here is yours," he said handing Jake his medium pizza, "AAAAnd mine!" he said taking the large pizza over to the couch with him. Jake sat down on the floor. Chance turned the TV over to the cable and flipped through a few channels, until he came across _The Litterbin show_.

"Oh oh stop there!" said Jake.

"You like this show?" questioned Chance with a tone.

"Yeah!" Jake replied excitement. Jake looked over at Chance to see his apparent disinterest. "Oh but if you don't like it..."

"Nah, if you like it I can sit through it. He's got his funny moments." Chance said while he set down the remote. Chance and Jake ate as they watched the show, Jake was laughing uproariously and Chance even got a good laugh in. By 10 both of them had finished eating.

"Oh that was soooooo good." Said Chance, who had downed his _entire _pizza.

"Yeah I couldn't eat another bite!" said Jake who had finished most of his. Jake looked to the clock and saw that it was 10. Jake looked back at the TV when he realized he had yet to let his friend know where he was! "Oh damn it!" Jake said quickly bolting up and trying to get his cell from his pocket.

"What's the matter?"

"I forgot to call Jackie, she's the friend I'm staying with while I look for an apartment." Jake walked into the kitchenette and held the phone next to his ear.

"Looking for an apartment? I wonder..." Chance thought

"Hey Jackie! ...Yeah sorry about that haha. No, no I just made a new friend, I'm hanging out at his house now." Jake winced as an excited squeal came from his phone. Chance just looked over and gave Jake a weird look. "Yeah, I'll be back in a bit, see ya soon!" Jake hung up.

Chance gave Jake a somewhat sad look, "So you're going home?"

"Yeah, Jackie was worried sick."

Chance sighed as Jake put his shoes back on. "Damn, and to think I was gonna find my DVD's and put on Alien after this too.." said Chance, painfully trying to be coy.

"You know if you want me to stay over all you gotta do is ask. Besides I was planning on asking the same" Jake replied while chuckling at Chances antics.

Chance pouted again, "you ass" Chance said as he slugged Jake in his arm just hard enough to be a bit painful.

"Ow! And I'm the ass?" Jake yelped as he rubbed his arm. Chance grabbed his keys and he and Jake walked out of the apartment.

There was an awkward silence as they started walking to Jackie's house. All Jake said was that it was just a couple blocks away. Chance finally broke the silence, "So..your looking for an apartment?"

"Yeah, so far all the rates are too high for the allowance DWMA will give me. Wait how are you affording yours?"

"Oh, someone is helping me pay for it till I find a roomie" Chance dawned a semi-dark expression.

"Hmm why do you ask?" Jake questioned, he didn't want to pry anymore on the seemingly sensitive issue

"Aww no reason, I was just wondering if the person I was going to ask to partner with me would also like to share an apartment." Chance said matter-of-fact.

"Hmm," was Jake's only reply as he didn't quite register what Chance had just said. That lasted all of two seconds before Jake whipped around to face Chance and ask, "Wait you mean.."

Chance gave Jake a warm smile, "Yup, I don't have a partner yet and I want you to be mine buddy! That is if you don't have one already." Chance looked sad at the thought.

"No, I mean yes! I'll be your partner! And I'll definitely room with ya!" Jake could barely hold back his excitement.

Chance jumped in the air and pumped his fist, "AWESOME! We are gonna be the best duo at DWMA buddy!" Chance brought his arm out into an angle. Jake took the cue and placed his paw in Chances, "And the apartment is two bedroom too so it works perfectly! Dude this is gonna be awesome!" Chance pulled his arm back and both he and Jake continued to smile as they walked the remainder of the way to Jackie's house.

(insert break)

The two reached Jackie's house within minutes and Jake rapped his knuckles on the door. A thin girl with fine black hair down to her shoulders answered.

"There you are, do you know how worried I was!?" She huffed at Jake.

"Geez, sorry mom stuff happened" Jake teased. Jackie turned her gaze to the large tom next to Jake. "Why hello there, you must be Jake,s new friend!"

She held out her hand and Chance gingerly grasped it, "Chance Furlong, and you, beautiful lady, must be Jacqueline."

Jackie giggled, "Just call me Jackie. She stepped aside and let Jake and Chance enter the home. "Just take a seat on the couch, I'll be back down in a sec OK?" Chance nodded and looked at Jackie for approval, she nodded back and he took his seat. Jake was already upstairs and Jackie followed him to the guest room he was staying in.

"By the way I'll be staying over at Chances tonight so I won't be back till tomorrow." Jake heard the door to his room close behind him after he and Jackie entered. He looked back to see Jackie smiling maniacally. He soon blushed furiously when he realized what she was thinking. "NO, It's nothing like that, damn Jackie I just met the guy!"

Jackie giggled, "Sorry but what's a girl to think when her gay friend says he's staying at a cute boys house?"

"I never said he was cute. And he's just a freind" Jake pouted.

"You know you're really cute when you blush." Jackie said, still giggling.

Jake only blushed further, "So does Chance" he muttered.

"So you do like him!" Jackie nearly shouted.

"SHHHHH, don't let him hear you!" Jake clasped his paws over Jackie's mouth. "Besides there's no way, he's too obviously straight." Jake sulked.

Jackie pulled Jake's paws off of her mouth"Yeah, kinda. Well don't be down kiddo." she said while sticking out her tongue.

"You're only a year older than me you can stop calling me kiddo" Jake pouted. Jake took off Chance's t-shirt that he had still been wearing and was sifting through his closet to find a new one.

Jackie's expression changed the instant she saw the bandages across Jake's chest. "Oh my God! Jake what happened?" She ran over and took a closer look at Jake's chest.

"Oh, I ran into some trouble at the park, don't worry about it, Chance patched it all up for me."

"He didn't do this?"

"No," Jake looked back to his closet and smiled, "Chance actually helped me get rid of the people that did do this." Jake replied.

Jackie smiled and turned to leave the room,"You know you shouldn't give up hope so quick, you never know unless you try. Alright well imma go talk to Chance, remember to pack some condoms!" Jackie said as she quickly left without giving Jake a chance to rebuttal.

Jackie walked back downstairs to find Chance still sitting on the couch, actually twiddling his thumbs. Chance looked up when she came into view and smiled at her. "So how is this evening?" She questioned and stuck out her tongue.

"Jake told you about that hunh?"

"I saw the bandages, seriously though thank you."

Chance smiled and simply said, "not a problem at all."

"You know Jake never takes to being someone's friend this easily."

Chance cocked his head in a bit of confusion, "Really? He's really easy to talk to, I'd imagine him as the kind of guy with a lot of friends actually."

"Yeah he seems that way once he warms up to you, that being said do you wanna know how long it took him for me?" Chance stared at Jacqueline with anticipation. "I've known him since the 8th grade.." Chance leaned forward, Jackie smiled at Chances eagerness to hear the rest, "but we really weren't friends until Sophomore year."

Chance's eyes widened in disbelief "2 years?!"

"Yup, ever since we've been really good friends. I would hang out with him at lunch and stuff all the time before we were actually friends and I tried to get him to go out to movies and stuff like that, you know try to get him to open up, but it just didn't happen. Way to far out of his comfort zone. But with you, it hasn't even been a day and already you seem to be awesome friends. Hell he's even staying at your house!"

Jake was standing atop the stairs listening in on the conversation. Tears began to well up in his eyes, "Damn it, what's he going to think now? He'll probably think I'm just a weird, sheltered, pussy! I just made a new friend and he's probably never gonna talk to me again!"

He snapped out of it when he heard Chance laugh. "I guess I'm just that awesome hunh! " Chance finally said after a few moments of laughter.

Jake almost busted out laughing too, the tears had subsided. "Chance, you just have this uncanny ability to make things better doncha? Maybe I was just over-reacting" he thought. Jake promptly walked down the stairs and smiled at Chance and Jackie who were laughing uproariously. "Now what did I miss?" he questioned innocently, "Here's your shirt back Chance."

Chance caught the shirt. "Nothing buddy, you all ready to go?" Chance said wiping his eyes.

"Yeah, oh yeah! Jackie I've found an apartment!"

Jackie's eyes widened "Really! Oh that's awesome Jake," she pulled him into a hug, "where?"

She let go of Jake and he gave a slight nod toward Chance. "With Chance actually!" Jake smiled and then quickly grimaced at what Jackie must be thinking.

"That's awesome! When do you move in?" she asked shooting Chance a look.

"Well I won't be in my actual apartment for about a week but there's still a lot of room in the temporary apartment if you wanna start moving your stuff over there tomorrow."

Jake almost responded when Jackie cut him off "Yes! He will!"

"Hey I was gonna say that!" Jake snapped. The three laughed as Jake and Chance left the house.

* * *

Jake and Chance had just finished watching "Alien" and it was about 1 in the morning. "Damn that kat Ridley makes a good movie! I guess we should get to bed, we still have orientation tomorrow" Chance said while stretching out his arms.

"Yeah I guess so" Jake responded with a yawn. Chance got up and went back to where the bedrooms were. Jake got up and quickly went to use the bathroom before he went to sleep. When he was leaving the bathroom Chance was walking by with a few blankets and pillows.

"Here take these for me, I reallllllly gotta pee!" Chance said anxiously. Jake giggled and grabbed the blankets and pillows and went down the hall to the living room. He laughed again when he heard the relieved sigh Chance made from the bathroom.

When Chance came back he found Jake setting up his blankets on the floor and that he had set some up on the couch. "Oh no no no, you get the couch bud."

Jake looked up at Chance who had walked to the couch and pulled off the blankets and pillows.

"No I wouldn't feel right, it's your place after all."

"I insist dude"

"No I'm fine"

"Get on the goddamn couch"

"I said no!"

"Then I guess no one gets the couch hunh?"

"I guess so!" Chance and Jake just stared at each other, and then burst out laughing. "Dumbest argument ever!" said Jake.

"Yup Jackie was right when she said you were stubborn." Chance began to strip down to his boxers.

Jake had taken off his shirt, but that was it, he looked over at Chance after Chance had taken off his shirt. "So his stripes are on his back too!" Jake thought. When Chance took off his pants Jake blushed and turned away.

Chance looked back toward Jake and saw the attempt to not look. "Oh sorry, is this awkward for you, I wasn't even thinking." Chance started to put his pants back on.

"No not at all, it was just unexpected that's all," Jake laughed. "I usually just sleep in my boxers too."

Chance smiled, "Good cause I hate wearing pants when I sleep." Chance tossed his pants aside and turned off the lights. Jake stripped off his jeans also. Chance and Jake were both just lying there on their makeshift beds now.

"Hey Chance" Jake had broken the silence, hoping Chance was still awake.

"Yeah?" He was still wide awake, in fact he wanted to talk to Jake.

"What do you think will happen if we test into different classes?"

"What do you mean?" Chance questioned.

"Well what if you test into NOT?"

"What about you?"

"Hunh" Jake didn't quite register what Chance was asking.

"How do you know you're in EAT?" Chance clarified.

"Oh, well I took a pre-placement exam and they tested me into EAT." Jake explained.

"Then we don't have a thing to worry about." Jake looked over at Chance, the moon illuminated the room just enough so that he could make out Chance's features and catch a shine from the necklace draped around his neck, Chance was looking back. "I took the same exam and tested into EAT too!" Jake's eyes widened with joy and confusion, he was delighted that he and Chance would be in the same class but he didn't figure Chance for the intellectual type. "Don't look so surprised there bud" Jake blushed, and he was glad there was no way for Chance to see it."I'm a bit smarter than people like to give me credit for, ask me anything about vehicles, anatomy, calculus, or chemistry and I can answer it."

Jake decided to try his hand, "Whats the second derivative of 3x4 + 4x3 – 6x?"

"36x2 + 24x + C" Jake's eyes widened to the size of small dishes making Chance laugh profusely. Jake only smiled as Chance sat up, holding his belly. "That coupled with my fighting instinct got me into EAT." Chance explained, finally ceasing his laughter.

"You took a physical portion of the exam?"

"Yeah, it's recommended if your a meister, I tested with a one-handed blade and a pike. Personally I prefer a blade, so you're in the clear." He smirked at Jake

"...Sorry" was all Jake could say, he did feel bad about assuming things about Chance.

"Don't worry about it, I've heard worse, some people thought I was retarded at one point. Guess I showed em hunh?" Chance said putting a reaffirming paw on Jake's shoulder before he laid back down.

Jake smiled and hugged a portion of his blanket, "You really do make things better" He thought. "Chance?" Jake asked as he yawned loudly.

"What're you worried about now?" Chance mocked slightly.

"I think..." Jake looked up at Chance,"That we're gonna be the best meister-weapon duo at DWMA!"

Chance gave Jake a wide toothy grin. "You know it partner!" Chance held out his arm at an angle. Jake smiled widely and took Chances paw in his. Chance tightened his grip and Jake responded in kind, "Let's do it...Partner!"

* * *

Jake smiled when the fond memory had finished, the past couple of weeks had been eventful to say the least. He and Chance hung out every day and Jake had gotten all of his stuff moved over to Chances, or rather their, temporary apartment. By the time they moved to their actual apartment they were in for a surprise. It looked exactly like the temporary one, only the renovations the landlord decided to make were a nice solo shower instead of a tub, a better fridge and the part that actually took a week, converting the two single bedrooms into one large bedroom. Chance and Jake were thoroughly surprised to say the least. The landlord made the 'improvement' not knowing about Chance's new arrangement with Jake. He apologized profusely and he compensated by lowering the rent, only by a bit but still. He even offered to rebuild the wall but that would take another week. The duo finally decided they were okay with sharing a room.

Jake looked at the clock and saw that it was 3 in the morning. His thoughts and he could finally sleep, but only for a few hours. "Dammit, Chance wants to get up early and practice using me tomorrow too." Jake's mind immediately south. "I need to stop that." He turned back on his side and was quickly falling asleep, "Is it weird that I'm really excited?" was his last thought before he drifted off into a nice slumber.


	3. Chapter 2: Getting there

**Authors Note: Sorry to add this but I noticed a discrepancy in my story that happened completely on accident. In the very first chapter/second post Jake says that Chance flirts with every girl he meets, especially Maka. That was supposed to say Jackie, not Maka. It is changed now and is correct, so sorry everybody ^^;. Other than that it's all good, hope you enjoy the chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 2: Some new friends!

Jake woke up and batted his eyes until they adjusted to the light in the room. He rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked around the room to see that Chance was already awake and out of his bed. "Prolly in the shower" Jake said while he stretched out his arms. He looked at the clock and saw that it was already 8:45. "Hunh? I woulda thought Chance would want to leave earlier. Jake got out of his bed and walked toward the door. He'd get changed when he took a shower. He opened the door and heard noises from the kitchenette area down the hall. "Wha.." was all Jake could say until the scent of food wafted around his nose. Jake began drooling "That smells sooooooo good~." Jake quickly walked down the hall to the kitchenette.

"Hey buddy, you finally up?" Chance said as Jake entered the room. Chance was cooking bacon at the stove, clad in only his boxers and pink apron.

"Damn it why do you have to wear cute things?" Jake questioned in his mind before his eyes turned toward the table. "Whoa!" was all he could muster upon seeing the spread. Chance had made a full stack of pancakes, sausage links, and two onion, mango pepper and cheese omelets.

"The bacon will be done here shortly, take a seat!" Chance said with an upbeat tone.

"Since when do you cook?" Jake questioned as he sat down.

"I've always enjoyed cooking but," Chance turned off the stove and brought the plate of bacon to the table and sat himself down in the seat adjacent Jake, "I didn't have any groceries to do it with for the past couple of weeks. If your gonna ask, I asked the landlord to run to the store for me this morning."

"So I guess we finally gotta go shopping hunh?" Jake said as he took a bite of the omelet. Jake dropped his fork, "OH...MY...GOD this is delicious!"

Chance laughed and gave Jake a toothy grin, "Glad you like it!" In the blink of an eye Jake began to devour everything in front of him/ "Oh so it's like that hunh!" Chance quickly followed suit and matched Jake's speed.

Soon after both had finished eating and were leaning back in their chairs rubbing their now swollen bellies. "Damn Chance that was the best breakfast I've ever had!"

Chance smiled and rubbed his head, "Aww thanks, but it couldn't have been that good."

"Don't you DARE be humble about that, it was absolutely amazing!" Jake reaffirmed.

Chance only smiled. "Alright.." Chance stood up, "you go ahead and shower first, I'll clean up here" Chance turned on the sink and began to wash the dishes.

"Thanks bro!" Jake said as he walked back to their bedroom to get his stuff. "Wait, since when do I call _ anyone_ bro?" he thought to himself

* * *

Jake was sitting in their bedroom playing on his laptop waiting for Chance to get out of the shower. He looked at the clock, it was 9:45, Chance had been in there for almost 30 minutes! "I've heard of long showers but _damn_!" Just then Jake heard the shower turn off and soon after Chance had walked into the room with a towel around his waist. "Forget our clothes did we?"

"Can't account for absent mindedness I guess" Chance responded with a slight smirk. He walked over to his dresser near his bed.

"Is he really gonna change right there?" Jake thought, his ears beginning to heat up slightly. Jake turned away, despite his desire to look on.

Chance slipped a pair of boxers on under the towel without removing it "All right, my sexy parts are covered." Chance jested tossing the now unnecessary towel aside

"I'll say" thought Jake as he turned back.

Chance had finished getting dressed, he wore a pair of loose-fit jean shorts and a black muscle shirt. "Ready to go?" he asked Jake as he put on his shoes.

"Sure!" Jake replied.

* * *

Chance and Jake had moved to a densely wooded area that was near the school. Chance had set up a few targets on the trees nearby as well as a wooden dummy that he had gotten from Jackie. "Alright, you ready for this bud?" Chance questioned Jake.

"Yeah," Jake answered, "This will be my first time going full weapon form but I should be fine!" he reaffirmed.

"Alright let's do this!" Chance said with an excitement in his tone

"Alright!" Jake closed his eyes, took in a deep breath. He pictured the same process of him turning his arm into a blade, but this time focused that energy throughout his body. His whole body shone and soon Jake took on his weapon form! He looked almost like a metallic glove with two metal slabs atop it and three silos in the front of it. (More or less the glovatrix but with an extra metal plate on top of where the shield is housed and with a slit on it.) "Whoa!" Jake thought, until he started to fall to the ground.

"Whoa!" exclaimed Chance as he fumbled trying to catch Jake. Chance jumped and managed to catch Jake before he thudded against the ground, the same couldn't be said for Chance as he landed on his face with a resounding THUD.

"Are you okay Chance?" Jake asked, his image on the top most plate.

Chance looked up and gave Jake a tooth grin. "Yeah bud, a little dirt never hurt Chance Furlong!" Chance stood up and dusted himself off. Chance eyed Jake with a perplexed look.

"What?" Jake asked, blushing under Chances ocular assault.

"Nothing, just...aren't you supposed to be a blade?" Chance questioned.

"Yeah, I don't know whats up with the glove th... oh wait." Jake reverted from his weapon form. "My arm.." Jake changed his arm into weapon form, with out readying the blade portion. " looks like a glove until I make the blade pop out." Which Jake did as he said that.

"Hunh, I guess you got a space for that somewhere, change back" Chance said. Jake did so promptly, this time Chance was ready to catch him though. Chance inspected Jake again and found the slit on the top most plate. "Here! Jake try focusing the same process to make the blade come out but do it here" Chance touched the spot and Jake immediately knew what to do.

"Alright here goes nothing" Jake said. At first nothing happened and Chance expectantly held Jake in his large paws.

"Anythin...Ahhh" Chance was cut off by a blade shooting out of Jake that nearly cut his nose. "Damn Jake! Warn me when you wanna cut my nose off!" Chance joked.

"Sorry, but wow! Just look at me!" Jake was obviously impressed with himself.

Chance eyed the blade now protruding from his friend. "Well that's innuendic isn't it" Chance thought, chuckling to himself. Jake's blade was almost completely black, aside from the red outline along the edge of the blade. It was a thin, but sturdy, broad sword that was as wide as the plate that it protrude from and was almost half of Chances height in length. "Buddy, I'd say you look beautiful! Just look at the intricacy of everything! It's a bit heavy, but damned beautiful."

Jake blushed, he knew what Chance was talking about regarding his weapon form, but still it was nice to hear.

"Alright! Let's try putting you on and get started!" Chance said, his excitement still ever present. Chance tried to pull Jake onto his large fist but the glove was just plain small for him. "Ugh, come on! Maybe if I..." Chance continued trying to force the glove on.

"Ahh...ow...OW! CHANCE PLEASE STOP!" Jake said through his pain.

Chance shrunk back at Jake shrill tone, "Oh sorry bud, I didn't realize you were getting hurt." Chance ceased his actions and Jake converted back to his kat form. "Hmm.." an idea popped into Chance's head. "Hey Jake!"

Jake looked over at Chance, no longer affected by the earlier pain "What?"

"Go weapon again except.." Chance grabbed a nearby branch, "hold onto this!"

"Ooooookay" said Jake, he didn't argue though and went weapon from. The same thing happened as earlier but this time the sleeve of the glove was widened to the girth of the branch.

"Yeah!" Chance leaped in the air and pumped his fist, "Aight change back!"

"Hahahaha" Jake laughed while changing back, "Aight? You _really _say that?"

"Bitch please!" Chance rebuttals jokingly, "Anyway it looks like your glove sleeve forms around whatever you're in contact with. So..." Chance put his paw in the same angle that he and Jake were accustomed to doing by this point, "Take my paw!" said Chance with an excited smile. Jake smirked and grabbed onto Chances paw, then he immediately went into weapon form. With a bright flash Jake was in his full weapon form, except now he was perfectly formed around Chance's paw and wrist. "Alright!" exclaimed Chance

"Great!" Jake tuned in with almost as much fervor, his image flashed across the top metal plate. "Imma, bring out the blade ok?"

Chance nodded at Jake and soon after Jake's blade was out in it's full splendor. "Okay let's give this a shot bud!"

"Roger!" replied Jake

With that Chance got himself into position. He made his stance wide with his feet spread apart to balance the weight of the blade in his right paw. "Alright first the paper targets" Chance said while setting himself up to lunge at the tree in front of him. Chance lunged forward and seemed to have perfect form to slash at the target, until he slipped and fell flat on his face. "OW!" Chance yelped.

Jake's images appeared on the top plate again. "You OK bud? What happened?"

Chance sat up, dusting himself off. He pulled the glove in front of his eyes. "I had perfect form and thought I had it down, but when I went for the slash you were heavier than I expected. I'm used to weapon I can hold in my hand, not more-or-less a part of my hand."

"If your trying to say I'm fat, that's not gonna fly, I mean look at me!" Jake joked

Chance chuckled "Nah, bud. Let's just try again alright?"

On the street near the wooded area Chance and Jake were practicing, two people were walking by with a couple of shopping bags. One had brown hair with pigtails and wore a black coat, the other had pink hair and wore a long black, dress-like piece. The one with pigtails perked up from the conversation she was having when she heard noises from the nearby area.

"Ahh" "hah!" "Damn it!"

She turned back to her friend, "Let's go check it out!" she said with an strange enthusiasm. The other smiled wryly and nodded.

Chance was now sitting on the ground with a slight look of defeat. Jake reverted from his weapon form and placed his paw on Chances shoulder. "Don't worry about it bud, you'll get it eventually."

Chance smiled up at his partner. His ears perked up when he heard a nearby rustle. "Who's there?" He questioned in a relaxed tone.

"Guess we got caught hunh Crona?" The two walked out from the nearby bushes.

"Unh...Yeah...Maka." The pink haired one, Crona, answered.

"How long have you two been watching?" Jake asked

"Oh long enough to see that your having trouble working with your partners weapon form" Maka replied.

Chance turned his head away and blushed. "So! This is our first time trying this.." he pouted.

"Eh he he he, don't worry! It's always a bit weird to get used to at first." said Maka

"Hunh? Your a meister?" Chance questioned

"Yup!" Maka said while nodding her head, "advanced student at Shibusen! And this is Crona, she's also and advanced meister!" Crona replied by simply raising her hand while smiling shyly."You know she could most likely give you some pointers!"

Both Chance and Jake shot an astonished look to Crona. "REALLY!" they said in unison.

"Well I uhhhh.. Ragnarok does have a pretty new form …..that is kinda like your weapon form." At this time a black entity came out of Crona's back and braced itself on her shoulders.

"Yo!"

Chance and Jake both fell back in shock, "That thing just came out of your body!" Jake managed to say.

"Hey I'm not a thing! My name's Ragnarok!"

"Oh, uh hi Ragnarok!" Chance chimed in semi-nervously. "So do you think you could help us?"

"I don't think I wanna help some guys who call me a "thing""

"Come on Ragnarok, if you do I'll give you ten sweets!" Maka said almost mockingly

"Deal!" Ragnarok replied

"Ragnarok, beta blade mode" Crona commanded, although, truthfully, it sounded more like a suggestion than a command.

Ragnarok moved his amorphous body down to Crona's right arm and formed a blade that came from her wrist, that was shaped and proportioned exactly like Jake's weapon form, only smaller.

"Whoa! It's almost exactly like my weapon form!" Jake said excitedly

"Alright!" Chance jumped up from his sitting position, "Let's do this Jake!" Jake clasped onto Chances hand and quickly assumed his weapon form.

"Ummm...What is it...you're having trouble..." Crona attempted to stammer out

"Oh, I'm having trouble adjusting for Jake's weight when I go for an attack." Chance replied

"Well..if you do this..." Crona began to demonstrate

* * *

Chance darted forward and made a wide slash at the wooden dummy's abdomen. The wooden dummy neatly cleaved in two. Chance quickly regained posture and made a few more quick slashes at the upper portion of the dummy, now semi-suspended in air. The upper part of the dummy fell into many pieces on the ground and Chance stood upright with a contented grin. Chance couldn't help himself. He crouched down, his grin growing wider , "YEAH!" He near screamed as he jumped in the air.

After Chance landed, Jake reverted to his kat form. His grin was just as wide as Chance's. He and Chance clasped hands in their usual manner. "Great job buddy! Told ya you'd get it!"

Maka and Crona were smiling on the sideline. "Good job you two!" Maka congratulated

Jake ran over to Crona and grabbed her hand "Thank you so much Crona!"

Chance ran over and placed his hand on her shoulder, "Yeah thanks! You helped a lot!"

Crona only smiled shyly. Ragnarok then came out of her back with his usual temper, "Hey where's my thanks!?"

Jake and Chance laughed. Jake bowed to Crona/Ragnarok, "Thank you Ragnarok-senpai!"

"That's better!" Ragnarok crossed his arms. Everyone shared a laugh at that one.

"OK, we should go Crona, Soul might be wondering where we are" said Maka

Crona nodded, the two turned around and began to leave.

"See you two at Shibusen!" Chance called after them as he and Jake waved goodbye

"Definitely!" Maka said back as she turned her head around and waved goodbye

* * *

Chance and Jake arrived back at their apartment around 5:30 with shopping bags in hand.

"So you think we got enough to tide over your apatite?" Jake giggled

"Yeah, I don't know what your gonna eat though" Chance said, sticking his tongue out at Jake. The two were now sorting out all of their newly bought groceries

"Now how can you be embarrassed about your belly, and yet still joke about it?"

"Hmm," Chance cocked his head, "You know... I don't know. The only other person I was able to talk like that too was my mother, now that I think about it."

Jake was setting a couple things in the cabinet, "Oh yeah, do I ever get to meet your parents?"

Chance stopped what he was doing, "Well that will be kinda hard." His expression sagged

"Why?"

"Well...my mom..is dead, Jake."

Jake turned to face Chance, "Oh no...I'm sorry Chance. When?"

"About two weeks before I met you, it was a sudden heart attack. I came home and found her lying on the kitchen floor..." Chance shivered at recounting the terrible memory.

Jake walked over to Chance and placed his hand on Chance's shoulder, "You gonna be alright?" was all he could ask

Chance placed his hand on Jake's and shot him a reassuring grin, "Yeah bud, thanks. How about I get dinner started?"

Jake smiled, "How about you let me handle it tonight?" Jake decided to leave the dad issue alone, since Chance didn't even mention it. Best not to lay on all of this at once.

"You? Cook? Are you sure?" Chance mocked

"Hey I can cook somethings!"

Chance and Jake both laughed

* * *

Later that night Chance and Jake were getting ready for bed

"Hey Jake, would you mind if we ran by my house, or rather my old house, to get a few things after class tomorrow?"

"Sure, where is it?"

"A couple miles east of here. I got a car parked on the outskirts of death city so it'll be a snap getting there!"

"Ooooh can't wait!" Jake said as he laid down in his bed

Chance turned out the light and laid in his bed. It was silent for a while. Chance lay awake until he heard Jake's breathing slow down and was fairly sure he was asleep. The memory of his mom, lying dead on the floor entered his mind again. In truth, it's all he thought about since after dinner, he had just been trying to push it outta mind.

"Mom? Mom! Oh god mom! Come on, stay with me. Goddamn it! Where's the phone? .. Hello?! My mom she's she's …..." The memory flooded over him

Chance began shaking again, his eyes screwed shut and he tightly squeezed his pillow.

"Chance Furlong? I'm sorry but … she's gone son, she's gone" the memory continued

Chance began crying, letting out soft whimpers. Jake was still awake on his side of the room, he could hear Chance. Jake thought Chance had been acting off after dinner, and he was more than certain as to why. He wanted nothing more than to get up and comfort him, but he didn't know if it was his place to do so. After all he still had both of his parents. Jake turned over slowly and saw that Chance was turned away from him. "I can't just sit here, can I?" Jake thought. Chance's crying had slowed to nearly unnoticeable and his breathing followed suit, he had cried himself to sleep. Jake heaved a sigh and turned back, maybe he would talk about it with Chance tomorrow.


	4. Chapter 3: First day and Comfort

Chapter 3: First day and comfort

The alarm clock ticked over to 6:30 and Chance and Jake's room was brought to life with a loud alarm.

"WHA!" Chance woke up in such shock that he fell out of his bed, flat on his face.

Jake sat up in is bed and rubbed his eyes while letting out a yawn. He looked over to see Chance lying face first on the floor. "I give the dismount a 7, but the landing a perfect 10" he joked holding up all 10 of his digits

Chance lifted up his hand and gave Jake a thumbs up, "Glad to know I impress" he stated calmly. He looked up at Jake and gave a huge toothy smile, "You know what today is right?"

Jake stood up from his bed and helped Chance to his feet. "First day at DWMA!" He couldn't hide the excitement in his voice.

When Chance was on his feet he gripped Jake's hand tightly, "Yup! Let's show em' what a radical team like us can do!"

* * *

Chance and Jake are running up the staircase leading to the DWMA's front doors. Ding-Dong-Ding-Dong sounded the schools first bell. "Damn it Chance! I told you to hurry in the shower!" Jake said through his rapid breathing.

"Sorry, I like my showers!" Chance jested in response

The two plowed through the entrance and found the halls almost empty aside from a few students still trying to find their classrooms. "Alright we're in … room 203. Let's hurry up!" Chance said, clearly excited. He and Jake ran up the first flight of stairs they saw.

"Let's see..." Jake said as he and Chance walked down the hall, "There!" Jake pointed out the door to their room down the hall. He and Chance walked up to the door and both froze in place. "A bit nervous?" Jake questioned.

"Yeah" Chance chuckled in reply, "Aren't you?"

"Just a bit." Was all Jake said

Chance turned to face Jake "You'll be fine bud, come on.." he smiled at Jake "...we don't wanna be late on our first day do we?" Jake smiled back at Chance and nodded. With that Chance opened the door. He and Jake walked into the classroom to find fewer students in there than they thought would be, at most there were maybe 30 others. They were all talking amongst themselves, only a few actually turned to see Chance and Jake. Chance had caught a few giggles when he looked around and found a couple girls staring at him. He blushed slightly and turned away.

"Ah, found the classroom did we?"

Jake and Chance turned to see the man who asked them the question. He was tall with purple skin and black dread-locks.

"Uh, yeah! Are you our teacher, Sid-sensei?" Jake questioned.

"Yes I am. I'm guessing you two are Jacob Clawson and Chance Furlong?"

"Yes sensei. How could you tell?" Chance asked

"Aside from being the only other kats in my class besides Callie-Chan and Felina-Chan, your also one of the only other partner pairings on my list." Sid answered

Chance took a quick look around the classroom to find the two kats in question. He found them sitting next to each other toward the front of the classroom in the middle section. The two were chatting casually, it was obvious that they were friends. Callie was a short-furred cat with very light brown fur and blonde hair. Felina had the opposite, she was long-furred and had a darker brown fur with black hair. She also had a single streak of white in that dark hair. Chance couldn't deny it, both of them were cute.

"Wait, they actually tell you who is partnered up?" Jake questioned.

"Yes, when you attended orientation you confirmed whether or not you had a partner. We make sure to put pairs together in the same class, for obvious reasons. Other than you two we have Callie and Felina as a pair, Josiah and Marsha, and Gregory and Davis. If you two want you can take either the seats by Callie and Felina or up in the corner by Gregory and Davis. I like to keep the partnerships near each other and Josiah and Marsha have yet to show up."

"Alright, where do you wanna sit Jake?" Chance asked turning his attention back to Jake and Sid, he already knew where he wanted to sit and hoped Jake would wanna sit there too.

"You can just say you wanna sit next to Callie you know?" Jake gently elbowed Chance, he had caught Chance eying them

"I...uh...um"

"Alright, then take your seats you two" Sid chimed in. Chance and Jake turned to him and nodded. They turned back to the sets of seats and walked toward them. Chance quickly stepped into the isle and made his way to the seat he claimed, which would be in between Callie and Jake.

"Hi! I'm Chance!" Chance extended his paw to Callie. Callie turned over to him and looked at his face for a second. He was grinning his now trademark toothy grin.

"Hehe, Callie, nice to meet you," She greeted, shaking Chance's paw

"And I'm Felina!" Felina chimed in extending her paw out to Chance.

Chance took it in kind as well, "This is my partner, Jake." Chance introduced Jake, moving aside so Callie and Felina could see him

Jake's shoulders tensed up slightly, "Uh, hi!" was all he could muster as he extended his paw out.

"A bit shy are we?" Callie questioned as she shook his paw

Jake blushed slightly, "Oh Callie don't tease the guy!" Felina interjected as she took his paw in her hand.

"It's a little hard not to be shy with someone as cute as Callie here" Chance cut-in

"And your bold, hehe. Sorry but your not my type Chance" Callie coolly stated

Chance's expression changed to a comically saddened one, "Shot down in two seconds staring Chance Furlong" He said

"Better luck on the next one bud." Jake said, putting his paw on Chances shoulder. "Yes YES YES!" Jake screamed in his head. He felt bad about being excited that Chance got shot down, but he couldn't help it.

"Alright take your seats students!" Sid bellowed. Everyone sat in their seats and Sid began with the introductory information akin to the first days of school. Jake wore a grin on his face for the entirety of the introduction, even though it was almost a repeat of the material covered at orientation. The four talked quietly and maintained a conversation for most of the introduction. After the ice had been broken Jake had even actively joined in.

* * *

"As far as dormitories, you're all familiar with the new situations where students may live in an apartment regardless of year..." Bing-Bong-Bing-Bong chimed the school bell. "Oh, lost track of time I suppose. Alright everyone take your lunch break and be back in an hour." Sid finished

Chance and Jake rose from their seats. "You two wanna come have lunch with us?" Chance questioned Callie and Felina.

"Yeah, it'd be nice to have some friends to eat lunch with on our first day!" Jake chimed in

"Oho a bit less shy are we? Sorry, I have to go back to the dorm and get some things." Callie answered, "But maybe Felina could go with you two?"

"Sure!" Felina quickly answered. "Unlike some space cases I remember everything I need for the day!" She said sticking her tongue out at Callie. Callie responded with a chuckle and walked off waving back at the group. The trio took this as a cue to head to the cafeteria and promptly did so. The three walked down the hall and talked until they had come across a restroom.

"Hold up a sec will ya?" Chance asked. Felina looked up at Chance confused until he pointed toward the restroom with his thumb. Chance went into the restroom and Jake and Felina were waiting outside with an awkward silence.

"So..." Jake muttered

"So how long have you liked Chance?" Felina suddenly questioned Jake.

Jake froze, mouth agape. He shook himself from the sudden stupor, and looked around to make sure no-one had heard "What? Don't be..."

"You hide it kinda well but I have an excellent gay-dar so don't try to fool me." she responded cooly.

"...How did I let that slip?" Jake questioned while rubbing the back of his head as he blushed.

"Oh, little things. The fact that you seem to hang on his every word. Your always happy around him. That all-to-cheerful grin when Callie shot him down..." Felina listed

Jake got an embarrassed sweat drop down his cheek, "You saw that hunh, hehe. Alright you have to promise not a word to him or anyone!"Felina nodded rapidly, she was clearly interested. "Usually I wouldn't talk about this to someone I just met, or anyone for that matter." Jake sighed, "Ever since I met him I guess, so about two weeks ago."

Felina's jaw fell open, "TWO WEEKS? You two seem to get along so well I coulda sworn you were life-long friends!"

Jake smiled. Chance came out of the restroom. "What about life-long friends."

Jake jumped at Chance's sudden interjection. "Oh uh well Felina was just, uh.."

"I was asking when you two met, when Jake told me two weeks I was really surprised. You two act like childhood friends!" Felina said to Jake's aid.

Chance smiled his trademark toothy grin and put his paw on Jake's shoulder, "Yup, it's only been a couple weeks but Jake is my best bud by far!"

Jake smiled, and Felina even smiled warmly. The three continued to the schools cafeteria with contented looks.

* * *

Chance, Jake and Felina were each carrying their respective lunches. Chance had a loaded tray and Felina and Jake were each carrying a bin-to box. They walked around the cafeteria floor for a bit trying to find a place to sit when they heard a familiar voice.

"Chance-kun, Jake-kun!"

Chance and Jake spun around to see Maka's familiar face. She was smiling and waving at them. Along side her sat quite a few people, including Crona.

"You know them?" Felina questioned.

Chance and Jake were waving back to Maka as the trio walked over toward the larger group. "Well we know Maka, the girl who shouted to us, and Crona, the pink haired girl. But the guy sitting next to her with white hair and all the others are new"

Maka's group stood up as Chance and company got to their table. "Hi Senpai!" Jake greeted

Maka smiled and held her hand out toward her group, "These are my friends," She turned back toward her group, "and these are the two new friends Crona and I met yesterday. The tall tom's Chance-kun and the cinnamon tom is Jake-kun!"

"Hi!" "Yo!" "Hello!" they all greeted. Maka smiled , "the one next to me is Soul, he's my partner."

"Yo!" Soul, a boy with white hair wearing a small headband greeted

"The loud-mouth, blue haired one is Black Star and the girl next to him with long black hair is his partner Tsubaki. And the one dressed in black with short hair is Kid and his partners Liz and Patty are in the hats."

"YO!" greeted Black Star. "Hello." said Tsubaki. "Hi." Kidd, Liz and Patty said in unison.

"Hi everyone! Maka's already introduced me and Jake, but this other kat with us in Felina." Chance replied to the greetings. Felina simply smiled and waved hello.

"Why don't you three eat with us we have plenty of room at the table!" Soul chimed in

"Sure!" the trio of kats replied. The three sat down and soon started having conversations. They all found that they could talk to each other at least somewhat easily, even Jake could with a little prompting from Chance. It wasn't long before they were all laughing and smiling at Chance's jokes with Jake's observations thrown in.

"Oh yeah, I have a question. You guys have had Sid-sensei as a teacher before right?" Jake asked. Maka promptly nodded."Alright, why is his skin purple?"

"Yeah I was wondering that too" Felina added

Maka began to giggle.

"What's that about?" Chance asked

"You guys are gonna die at this answer" Liz responded causing Patty to break into laughter

"Well you see Sid-sensei is a zombie more or less" Tsubaki replied

Jake froze up and his expression turned to a semi-frightened one. "D-d-did you s-say zombie?"

"Yup, thanks to Stein-sensei." Soul added

"Oh great, very first day and I found out my teacher's a zombie. As if I wasn't nervous enough." Jake sighed. The group again began laughing. Jake shot Chance a funny angry look, only to make Chance laugh harder. "ARE YOU TELLING ME IT DOESN'T BOTHER YOU!?" Jake yelled at his best-friend.

"Not at..." The bell rang and cut off Chance's answer. "Guess we better get back to class. It was fun getting to meet you guys. We'll have to do it again!"

Maka's group nodded their approval, "Definitely! You kats are pretty cool so feel free to join us whenever you want." Soul cooly stated

Chance and Jake nodded their mutual agreement and Felina responded with a smile.

The three walked back to class and continued to joke and talk., even as they entered the the classroom, causing Sid to smile at his students

* * *

The rest of the class day passed with more introductory material. The final bell rang. "Alright students, that's it for today. I realize today wasn't exactly eventful but tomorrow we will actually get into the heart of the course!" Sid said as he began to pack away his stuff. Jake and Chance gathered their things and waved goodbye to Callie and Felina as they left the room.

"So where you still wanting to run by you're old place?" Jake questioned.

"Yeah, I left some boxes and a few miscellaneous things over there that I'll prolly need." Chance responded.

The two proceeded to leave through DWMA's front entrance and walk down the stairs. As soon as they separated from the crowd of students, the duo headed for the outskirts of Death City where Chance had left his car. "So where is this car of yours?" Jake questioned

"It's in the parking lot that DWMA made for students last year, they said that people were complaining about some kid with a motorcycle." Chance replied

"Ah, what kind of car is it?" Jake pried

Chance smiled, "1985 F-150, it's old but I've kept it in amazing shape" Chance boasted "Guess I shoulda called it a truck hunh?"

Jake smiled, Chance seemed to have recovered from the previous night. Maybe he'd try to get his to talk about it on the ride to Chance's old house.

"Here she is!" Chance exclaimed. Chance darted forward toward a maroon smiled, his friend really did like cars. It had a simple design, a two-maybe-three person cab and a truck bed, there were no back seats. Chance promptly unlocked his side of the vehicle and hit the unlock button at the side. Jake climbed in to the passenger side of the cab. Both buckled their seat-belts and Chance put the key into the ignition. "You ready to hear my baby purr?" Chance asked. Jake shot Chance a questioning look, and Chance turned the ignition in response. The engine roared to life, quite literally and Jake's eyes widened. "Suped up the old V8 engine in this thing to get more horses out of her." Chance was still smiling as he pulled out of the parking lot. Chance started down the road that lead away from Death City to the East.

There was nothing but the sound of the engine for a few minutes. Jake decided it was time to ask Chance about the previous night. Jake opened his mouth to speak but Chance started talking before him, "So Felina really seemed to be into you dude." Chance smiled and jabbed his friend in the side.

"Oh...uh..well.." Jake stammered, surprised that Chance had cut him off right then. "I don't think she's my type." Was his response

"Oho Jakey boy has a type does he? So what's your perfect one hunh?" Chance pried with a mischievous grin on his face

"Well …..." Jake looked over to Chance and then turned back with a slight smirk "I like 'em tall and blonde furred, but not really light blonde, more yellow like. They have to be funny and they gotta have a great smile. And I LOVE hazel eyes." Jake had described Chance for the most part, he left out the part about him liking muscle. Besides, Chance never said "_perfect_ _girl"_. Jake suddenly got nervous, what if Chance realized Jake was talking about him, what would happen? What would Chance do? What would...

"Damn, sounds pretty sexy to me dude. I don't know personally I like brown or blonde furred ones." Chance responded.

Jake sent a silent prayer of thanks that Chance was at least somewhat dense. "Wait he said he liked brown fur, glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel?" Jake thought to himself

"Here we are." Chance said upon arrival at the house. Jake refocused himself and looked out on the standard suburb style house. He hadn't even noticed the suburb they had driven into, overall it looked nice though, aside from the similar houses left and right. He and Chance promptly got out of the vehicle after Chance parked it in the driveway. Chance sorted through his keys when they got to the door. He finally picked a small one and opened up the lock on the door.

The duo didn't find much upon entering the home, it was mostly empty aside from the couch against the far wall and the entertainment center. Jake looked up at Chance, his gaze was focused at the kitchen entance. "Chance, you alright?" Jake asked

Chance shook his head and snapped back to reality. "Yeah, I'm fine bud. Come on, the stuff I'm looking for should be in my room." Chance guided Jake to the back of the house to the last door on the left. Chance's old room was still somewhat "intact," he had a desk and a bed frame in there still but other than that there were just small items lying around. A stapler here, some books stacked in the corner, etc. Chance walked into the room and went straight to his closet, which he promptly opened and pulled out his guitar. "There's my girl!" He exclaimed

"Oh yeah you did say you played, you'll have to play me something sometime!" Jake winked at Chance, who smiled back.

Chance set the guitar by the door and started to rummage through the things that were left over. Jake did the same, he asked what stuff Chance would still need and what could go away. As Jake was going through Chance's stuff he came across a bible in a nice leather binding.

"Oh, I didn't know you were the religious type." Jake commented as he turned to Chance while holding up the bible.

Chance turned to Jake and smiled, "Oh that's where that went!" Chance took the bible from Jake's hands with a smile. "I'm not extremely religious but I do enjoy my faith." Chance said fondly

"So what religion are you?"

"I'm Methodist."

"Ah, ok"

"Do you have a religion?" Chance questioned

"Well, I do believe in God and have been to a Universalist Unitarian church before, it's been forever since I've gone though."

"Universalist Unitarian?"

"Haha you want me to explain?"

"Sure, just let me go pee first."

Jake chuckled as Chance left the room, Chance's openness on things like that was something strange to him,in a funny way of course. Jake continued to rummage through a new pile of Chances stuff, finding things that made him laugh. While he was going through the new pile of stuff he found a magazine. It was a _Hustlekat _magazine. "Goddamn it, I don't have a single shot in heaven do I?" Jake said hanging his head. When Jake heard the toilet flush he hurriedly stuffed the magazine away and waited for Chance to re-enter the room. But Chance didn't, the bathroom was just down the hall so he should have come back in just a couple seconds. Jake got up from his sitting position and walked to the door. He looked down the hall and saw that it was empty. He walked down the hall to the living room where he found Chance standing, facing away from him.

"There ya are bud what did ya come in here fo..." Jake said as he walked up to Chance. He stopped mid-sentence when he got to Chance's side and found him crying. "Chance, what's wrong?" Jake questioned, Jake moved his attention to what Chance was holding in his hand, it was a photo frame with a seemingly recent photo. In it was Chance looking almost the same as he does now, and a she-kat that came up to his shoulders. She had the same fur-tone as Chance and they both had hazel eyes...it was his mother.

_Sniff _"Sorry Jake, I found this picture lying on the floor and I just..I just.." _sniff, _Chance wiped his eyes, Jake was now standing in front of him, "You must think I'm such a pu..." Chance was cut off by a sudden hug from Jake.

"It's OK Chance, let it out." Jake said in a very soft tone. Chance's eyes welled up again, no matter how hard he tried now he couldn't hold back the tears, the dam had broken. Chance was crying full force now, the room was filled with his sobs and moans. Chance was thankful that Jake was just a bit shorter than he was, Jake's shoulder came up just high enough for Chance to bury his face into. Jake's shoulder was soaking wet with tears almost instantly.

"If I..if I would've _sniff_ just come home sooner...if I didn't go to hang out with Trevor maybe she'd..she'd still be.." Chance stammered out through his sobs

"You can't blame yourself for it Chance, it's not your fault. There's no way anyone could have done anything." It just dawned on Jake, "Where is his dad? They are divorced aren't they?" He questioned in his mind. He would ask at another time, right now all that mattered was Chance.

"But _sniff_ ...but"

"Hey," Jake softly lifted Chance's head from his shoulder and turned it to face him, he gave Chance a warm smile, "I bet she's looking down on from heaven with a smile, I don't care if it's cliché, it's true." Chance's eyes welled up up even more and he resumed crying into Jake's shoulder. The two stood there in semi-silence, aside from the sounds of Chance crying, for what seemed like an hour. Chance's sobs came to a slow stop and soon so followed his tears. Chance wiped his eyes into Jake's still soaked shoulder and lifted his head. He smiled at Jake softly, his eyes were extremely red from all of the crying. "You ok now Chan..., whoa!"

Chance literally pulled Jake into a big hug, "Thank you Jake, no-one has ever helped me... no, no-one has ever comforted me with this." Chance tightened the hug to the point that he was holding Jake tight but not like the bear-hug he had put him in weeks ago, "Thank you"

Jake smiled softly and returned the hug. Chance had let him go after a few seconds and Jake placed his paw on Chance's broad shoulder, "Come on let's get your stuff. Then when we get home how about we get something out for dinner? My treat!" Chance smiled and nodded. Jake didn't need Chance to speak to understand his gratitude, he was practically emanating it. The rest of the time they were at Chance's old home Chance was smiling.

Just before the two headed out the door Jake picked up the picture Chance had been looking at when he was crying, "We're taking this with us too! We'll put it up near the doorway so you can say hi to her every time you come home."

Chance nodded, "I'd like that" he replied

The two got into the truck and drove back in silence, but it was by no means awkward.

* * *

Chance and Jake walked into the door carrying two bags from a local burger joint. "Well I don't know if this is an improvement from pizza but it's a change at least." Jake joked

They walked into the living room and plopped down on the couch, Chance promptly turned on the TV. The two ate and Chance profusely laughed as his favorite show _Scardy Kat_ was on, Jake didn't find the attraction but still didn't mind watching it since Chance liked the show.

"So...I've been meaning to ask.." Jake said while taking a big drink from his soda, "Ahh ... this Trevor guy, do you still talk to him?"

"Hunh? Oh, no, me and Trevor weren't friends."

"Hunh?"

"I would just go and hang out with him sometimes, he may of thought of me as a friend but I sure as hell didn't see him that way."

"May I ask why?"

Chance set his burger down and muted the TV, "Well, let's just say this belly I've got isn't just because of how much I eat now. In fact, it used to be a lot bigger when I was in elementary and middle school."

"You where.."

"Yeah, I was the fat kid. So you can guess what everybody else did. And Trevor was one of the biggest bullies I had."

"What made that change?"

"Well, in high school my nuts finally dropped.." The phrase caught Jake off guard and made him do a spit take, "and I finally grew into my body. I shot up a couple feet, the hormones kicked in and I began working out and within a year I was about what you see now. I've grown a bit taller since then and my guns.." Chance said while flexing his arms in a show-off fashion "..have gotten bigger, but that's about it. Anyway when Trevor tried picking on me again I punched him straight in the nose."

Jake felt like he should gasp but didn't, he also felt that maybe he should ask about his dad, "Nah that can wait for a while" was his decision in his mind

"The principle got me in his office of course, but instead of scolding me..he patted me on the back and said "good job son!" But yeah I never really had many actual friends, I had one, Gary, but he's long gone in Germany and I haven't talked to him for months now."

"Oh.." was about the only befitting response Jake could come up with

"You know, I think I realize why my mom's death shook me up the way it did. I mean it has been almost a month now, most people would've gotten over it at least a little. But for me, I was losing one of the only things I cared about in this world."

Jake felt that he should comfort Chance, but Chance showed no sign of needing it. Maybe he was just comfortable talking about this to Jake.

"But now.." Chance gave Jake his signature toothy grin, "I've got a TON of things to care about; DWMA, all of the new friends I'm making, _actual_ friends...and ..." Chance looked Jake straight in the eye and his expression softened, "you, Jake."

Jake's mouth hung open for a few seconds and then he smiled warmly at Chance who returned the smile in kind. That is, until Jake lunged at Chance and put him in a head lock, "C'mere you big lug!" Jake then gave Chance a noogie.

"Hey knock it off! You're being cliché again! Hahahaha!"

"Hahaha" they both laughed in unison, wearing big smiles on their faces


	5. Chapter 4: My Brother

**Hi Everyone! Sorry this Chapter took so long but in the craziness that is the first couple weeks of college it took a bit. This is also my first extensive action scene so hope that goes over well! Your reviews are ever appreciated and without making you wait further, here is the next chapter!**

* * *

It has been a week since Jake and Chance had started their education at DWMA, for the past week they had been going over the basics of souls and today they were beginning the topic of soul resonance.

"All right class, how many of you have heard of soul resonance?" Sid posed the question to the entire class

Chance was fiddling with a pencil until he heard the question,to which he promptly raised his hand.

Sid smiled at the sight of one of his more attentive students; he, Jake, Callie and Felina answered about 50 percent of the questions he would pose to the class. It was a good thing that the four sat together and were friends outside of class."Yes, Chance what is soul resonance?"

Chance quickly cleared his throat, "Soul resonance is when a meister and their weapon's souls connect. When this happens the meister and weapon are in just about full-synch and can think and act as such. In this state a meister and weapon can even share each others energy."

Sid smiled, "Damn, almost text book. When I was in your spot I would answer with almost as much fervor, but that's the man I used to be. Anyways, you're absolutely correct Chance, now how does one achieve soul resonance?" This time Jake's hand shot into the air,making Sid smile even more so, "I should have figured you'd be next Jacob! Go ahead."

"Soul resonance can be achieved when the meister and weapon share a bond of sorts assuming the two are compatible. Soul resonance can't be done if the two mutually dislike, for lack of a better term, each other, as an example. It can be achieved between family members, friends, lovers, etc. as long as there is a mutual respect." Jake answered

Sid nodded, "I bet you and Chance would know all about the friendship portion by now, wouldn't you?" Jake was about to answer, until Chance wrapped his arm around Jake's shoulder and pulled him in suddenly, causing him to choke for a second.

_Cough cough _"Yeah, _Cough_ let's go with friendship" The entire class laughed and Chance and Jake only smiled at each other.

"All right class that leads into today's main lesson." The class focused back to Sid, "Most of you have by now found partners, for those of you whom haven't, don't worry there is still plenty of time. Anyway, for today I want to hold an exhibition match of sorts. Before I get into those details I want to demonstrate soul resonance. Nigus!" Sid shouted to his partner, a kat wrapped in bandages. Jake had recognized her as the one who hauled Spirit-sensei away after Shinigami-sama's deadly chop. This made him giggle. Nigus promptly turned into her weapon form, a small sharp knife in a sheath. "All right first you need to synchronize, usually you wont have the time to slow down and do this so you'll have to learn to do it on the fly eventually." Sid stopped in place, closed his eyes and concentrated for a second until, "Tamishii-no-kyoume!" he screamed. A rush of air wafted through the room...but other than that there wasn't much to be seen. Many of the students seemed confused, however...

"Whoa!" Jake exclaimed

"Hunh, what is it?"Chance asked. Callie and Felina turned their heads toward Jake with confused looks

"You guys don't see that?" Jake asked looking back and forth from his friends.

"You mean his soul?" Felina questioned

"His what?" Jake answered

"Aha, so you can see souls just like Felina-chan!" Sid stated

"Wha?" Jake exclaimed with just as much confusion as previous, Chance and Callie were still in the same boat

Felina laughed, "I guess that's your first time seeing one hunh?"

"Tell me Jake, what did you feel when I used soul resonance?"

"Well besides that rush of air, I was in sheer awe. And then I saw the huge blue-sphere thing. That was your soul?" Jake answered, now even more awe struck

Sid smiled, "Yes. Well it's good to know that I have at least one other student in the class with soul-perception. Until now I thought only Felina-chan could do so. Can you only see my soul Jake?" Jake looked around and nodded toward Sid. "Alright, try taking your focus from me and putting it instead on Chance, since you two are close it should be easier for you to sense his soul."

Jake nodded and turned toward Chance, who put his hands behind his head and said "Should I strike a pose?" Callie giggled at the wonton picture Chance made.

"Alright Jake just take a deep breath and try to sense Chance's soul. Remember the feeling when you sensed mine and try to replicate that." Jake did just that, he closed his eyes and began to breathe deep, a few moments passed with nothing, until Jake felt a sudden surge of sorts. He couldn't describe it but he felt it and focused on it, "This has gotta be Chance" he thought, "It feels...just as warm as his personality." Jake promptly opened his eyes, and he saw his partners soul sitting in front of him it looked round and blue, just like a normal soul, or at least what he thought would be normal based on Sid-sensei. Jake sat for a few seconds in silence, until he started giggling.

Chance blushed in response to his partner, "What!? What's so funny?" He quickly pulled his arms down and glared at Jake

"It's got your ears...and your tail." Jake stammered through his small laughter. The class joined in his snickering, only causing Chance to blush even more so.

"Haha, good Jake-kun. Just practice that a bit more and you should be able to sense souls with ease. Alright so the main lesson for today is bonds. Being humans …. and kats you can share bonds with each other that will strengthen your abilities during battle through soul-resonance. Today I want to have two of our partner pairings have a friendly exhibition match to possibly demonstrate a bit of soul-resonance. I dont expect them to actually be able to perform it like myself and Nigus did, but even being able to think alike is a product of soul-resonance. So..." Sid dawned a mischevious grin .." Chance, Jake, Felina and Callie would you do us the honor?"

The group looked at eachother with hesitation until Chance spoke up, "Uh sensei, I have a slight problem with fighting a girl"

"What? If you're afraid of losing you can just say so." Felina said fiendishly

"What!?" Chance slammed his raised hand down on his desk

"It's okay big tiger, me and Callie wont spank you too hard" Felina retorted as if she was talking to a baby

"Okay fine! Sid-sensei It's on!"

Sid nodded and smiled.

* * *

Sid lead the class out to the forested area near the school where Jake and Chance had first trained. He brought them deeper into the woods than Jake and Chance had previously gone so that the duel wouldn't be restrained to a small area.

"Alright," Sid said when he felt that they had gone deep enough in, "I want both of you to assume weapon form" he said to Jake and Felina, who both nodded. Jake and Chance went through their usual weapon transformation, which had the class _ooo_-ing and _ahh-_ing. Felina then went to assume her weapon form, she simply stood there and was soon enveloped in a bright light. Felina assumed the form of a gun, a pistol to be precise. She had a green sight with a red reticule atop of the gun itself. She was almost completely black in color, aside from a single white stripe that went down the side of the gun to the trigger, almost like her hair style. The class responded to Felina and Callie similarly as they had done to Chance and Jake.

"Alright, the winner will either be decided by performance or if one team can put the other into a losing situation." Sid stated. Chance cocked his head in confusion. Sid walked over to Callie and walked her up to Chance, then placed her gun to his forehead. "A losing situation.."

Chance gulped "Oh..." The class giggled in response

"Come on Chance..." Jake's image flashed across the blade "if you're thinking is that off we'll never win!" Chance answered by glaring at Jake. "EEP, I'll be quite now" Jake sarcastically answered.

"Alright on my mark!" Sid held up his hand, Chance and Callie entered fighting stances "...GO!"

Chance immediately lunged when he heard the start, he made a broad slash at Callie, which she easily avoided with a simple jump backwards. Chance easily recovered and jumped at Callie a second time making an upward slash. Callie sidestepped the slash, but Chance was prepared for it this time and he used his momentum to get a fast kick at Callie. Callie ducked under the kick, when Chance had his back to Callie as a result of the kick she pushed him away from her with her foot causing Chance to stumble away. "Now it's my turn!" Callie said. She readied her pistol and pulled the trigger. The shot flew right at Chance and hit him dead center of his back.

"Owwwwwwww!" Chance jumped up at the sudden pain. "FUCK! What the hell did you just shoot me with?" Chance yelled while jumping around attempting to hold the area that had been hit.

"That was a bullet from Felina here. The bullet is made from my soul wavelength, Felina compresses it and fires it forward. In other words..infinite bullets!" Callie explained with a bit more enthusiasm than normal

"Callie, that is the same method one of my students used from a while back, it's good to see that someone else implores that same tactic."

Callie simply nodded, as she didn't want to break her concentration on Chance, who was now facing her again in full fighting stance. Wasting no time, Callie began her assault on Chance, firing a volley of bullets at his feet. Chance dodged the bullets by jumping to the right, but Callie had predicted that and began firing where Chance would be, forcing him to jump back with a start, and landing on his butt. He was given no time to recompose himself either, Callie was relentless. She continued firing. Chance's only capable reaction was to back up along the ground as the bullets neared him. "Oh fuck, oh fuck..." Chance thought as he continued to back up, sweat forming on his forehead. Chance had come to a sudden stop when he felt his back hit something, he looked up to see that he hit a tree. Callie's bullets were just about at Chance, his eyes widened as they drew near.

"Chance!" Jake yelled out

"Fuck!" Chance exclaimed as he put his arms up to block the incoming bullets. He sat there for a few seconds waiting for the assault, but it never came. Chance lowered his arms and peaked out to see Callie looking exhausted. Callie was still pulling on the trigger until she realized that no bullets were firing.

"Callie, you've used to many shots you have to recover!" Felina said aloud

"Chance that's our cue to get outta here!" Jake said, his image flashing across the blade, pulling his friend back to the situation

Chance shook his head and stood back up and bolted off toward the trees just as he saw Callie regain her breath somewhat. Chance broke into a full sprint away from the battle ground.

"Wait!" Callie called after Chance to no avail, "Sensei is that alright?"

Sid nodded, "Yes Callie-Chan, I actually brought the battle here so that you could use the environment. I may not be able to see you, but Naigus can sense your souls so we have an eye on you at all times, in a sense." Naigus nodded at her mention

Callie nodded in response and headed into the woods herself

* * *

"Chance! I think we're in the clear. Stop here." Jake told Chance who had been running through the woods for a short time. He wasn't too far from where they started, he made a smart decision in doubling back toward the starting point but taking a slightly different route to evade Callie.

Chance stopped and was breathing hard. Jake turned back into his kat form and Chance placed his hands on his knees while he bent over slightly trying to catch his breath. "You think _hah_ we have _hah_ enough time to figure out something." Chance said through his breathing

"I hope so, here let me check where she shot you on your back."

"Alright." Chance turned his back to Jake and pulled his shirt up over his head. Jake quickly saw the large bruise forming through Chance's fur. Jake prodded at it slightly and pulled back when Chance winced.

"Sorry, it looks like that'll heal up fine though, it's just a bruise. Good thing you don't exactly sleep on your back hunh." Jake joked. To his surprise, it elicited a chuckle from Chance. He thought Chance would be much more stern in this situation, but he was just like he normally acted. "Stress isn't a factor for you hunh?" Jake thought

Chance put his shirt back on and turned to Jake. "So, any plans for taking down trigger happy?" Chance asked as he leaned against a tree.

"Hmm, nothing yet. The only time we were able to get close was right away. After that we were on defense. And let's be honest she would've hit you again if she didn't over-exert herself."

"Yeah, she would've." Chance said with a sagged expression

"In terms of one on one she definitely has the advantage." Jake continued

"Wait! That's it!" Chance jumped from his position on the tree toward Jake

Jake jumped at Chance's sudden enthusiasm, "What?"

"You have some martial arts skills right?"

"...Yeah, brown belt tai-kwan-do actually."

"Awesome! I've got a blue belt in jiu-jitsu!"

"So what does this have to do with anything?"

"If we split up..come at her with you in weapon form then split...she'll have two targets to deal with instead of one! Besides you can even use your blade when your in kat form, so we can get her into a losing position if I get her off balance!" Chance said, obviously excited

"Hmmm, not a bad plan, but we won't exactly be able to communicate what we're going to do otherwise she can just counter it." Jake retorted

"Ohh...you're right" Chance said, his expression once again sagging

"...wait. There is one way we could probably do it!" Jake chimed

Chance's ears perked up, "What?!"

"We could..." Jake stopped for a second, thinking about whether he should even suggest what he was about to. He decided it was worth a shot, "We could try soul-resonance. That would allow us to think on the same page"

" Have you forgotten that we have only been at this for a few weeks? I don't think we're quite ready for that yet Jake. Besides I don't think it works that way"

"Well in theory it's simple, we just have to sync up to each others soul. For us that shouldn't be too hard. Besides my soul-perception might help!"

Chance still looked unsure and was doubtful. "But what other plan do we have?" Chance thought. "Alright, we'll give it a shot!" Chance said with a smile.

"Alright! It might be easier if I'm in weapon form.." Jake didn't need to say anymore, Chance already had his hand extended. Jake clasped it in his hand and instantaneously was in his weapon form. "Alright, just breathe Chance. Try to sense my soul in any tangible way. That is probably the best way to start." Chance responded with a nod. He was already trying to concentrate on finding even a hint of Jake's soul and didn't want to break that. He stood in silence just breathing. Jake had done the same trick he did earlier to find and lock onto Chance's soul. It took him only a few seconds, it really did get easier with practice. It felt the same as it did earlier, warm, and Jake was fairly sure that it would be slightly different when Chance could sense Jake in kind. Jake wanted to offer advice, but he feared he would only break Chance's concentration and thus slow him down. Chance was left with only his thoughts as he searched for even a thread of what could be Jake's soul.

"Come on, you should be able to do this! He's your goddamned best friend and yet you can't even sense he's there?" Chance thought. "I guess it doesn't help that I don't even know what I'm trying to sense. I mean am I looking for his energy? His aura? His..." Chance's thoughts were cut off as he began to recall some of the memories he had made with Jake over the last few weeks. "Maybe that will help!" Chance then began to recall everything from the memories that had come up; when he and Jake had first hung out and ended up talking late into the night, when they met Maka and Crona... A smile played across Chance's face. Then the memory of when Jake helped him deal with his mother's death came up. He didn't even have to try to recall all that happened in this one. He remembered how Jake just held him as he cried and provided him with all the comfort he could have needed. Without Jake's support and kindness where would he have been? It was then that Chance sensed something out of the norm. "Is that?" Chance thought. "It feels ...warm, but...not like heat. I don't know..." Chance tried to make sense of what he was feeling, "it also feels...safe..." Jake was right. As Chance started to grasp what he was feeling his soul seemed ever more prominent to Jake. He could feel all the warmth that he did when he sensed Chance's soul, but even more greatly.

"Come on just a bit more buddy!"

"I think...I know what this is." Chance thought more. "This is...how my best friends soul feels hunh? ...No. This is how my brother's soul feels!" Chance had a firm grasp on the feeling and promptly opened his eyes, now overflowing with resolve. Jake was astounded, he could actually hear Chance's thoughts! They had definitely locked onto each others souls! And now..."Tamishii!"

Callie's ears perked up when she heard the sudden outcry. Sids attention turned in the direction Chance was in the forest.

"No Kyome!" Chance yelled. A sudden rush of air came from where Chance was standing.

"What?!" Sid questioned

"No way!" Callie exclaimed as she ran off toward the noise.

"This feels almost like soul-resonance...but it isn't" Sid thought

Chance walked out of the area of the woods he was in back to where he started in front of the crowd that was Sid-sensei and his fellow students. Callie was right behind him. She came out of the forest at range from Chance.

"Your just trying to play with us aren't you?" Callie questioned. "There is no way that you can already pull off soul-resonance, so I think..." Callie aimed Felina at Chance "This is where it will end!" She promptly fired off a shot. But to her surprise Chance just side stepped it! Chance broke into a full sprint toward Callie. She tried to fend this of by firing at him, thinking that he would have to break stride to evade. But he didn't, Chance nimbly dodged all of the bullets coming at him and was still moving toward her. "What the!" Callie said just before Chance made a slash at her. She moved nimbly out of the way, just as she did earlier. She readied herself for another one, but was instead met with Jake flying toward her in blade form! She ducked and let him fly past her. "Did you think that just throwing him would.."

"Callie behind you!" Felina yelled

Callie quickly turned to see Jake darting at her with his arm in blade form. She gasped and jumped away as he swiped at her. What she didn't know was that Chance was waiting for her. When she had landed right in front of him, Chance swept at her feet with a kick, causing her to fall flat on her back. Jake hadn't broken his sprint and was right next to Chance as this happened. He quickly grabbed onto Chance's hand and reverted to full weapon form. Callie tried to sit up, but when she did she was met with Chance pointing the end of Jake at her. "Sorry Callie, I think we won" Chance said with a cocky smile. Callie was at a loss for words, as was the rest of the class.

"The winner is Chance and Jake!" Sid called. The class responded with a few cheers. Chance turned his attention to them and blushed. He rubbed the back of his head and Jake reverted to kat. He and Jake looked at each other. Both smiled broadly and then reacted in the same way, they both jumped in the air and said "Yeah!"

Callie was sitting up now, and Felina had turned back into kat form. Chance turned and offered his hand to Callie, she smiled and accepted it as he helped her up. Sid walked over to the winning duo. "Congratulations, you two performed excellently! That soul-resonance you did..."

"Impressed sensei?!" Jake perked up and put his arms put up behind his head in a confident pose

"It wasn't actually soul-resonance." Sid said flatly

Chance and Jake both looked startled, "What!?" they both exclaimed

"It looked like soul-resonance but it didn't make you two any stronger. You were able to think on the same wave length but that was all."

"So what did we do then? I was so sure that I sensed Jake's soul" Chance remarked

"I don't doubt that at all. Hmmm, let's call this an incomplete soul-resonance. Don't be disappointed you two.." Sid stated as he placed his hands on their shoulders, who both responded by meeting his gaze, "It is amazing that you were able to do this! You two have only been at it for a few weeks but your bond is simply amazing! How long have you two been friends again?" Sid questioned.

Chance and Jake looked at each other and began to laugh profusely. Sid made a puzzled look and Chance and Jake both explained their relatively short friendship

"WHAT?!" Sid yelled causing the birds in the trees to fly away from being startled

* * *

Chance and Jake were in the lunch room talking to Maka and all of their other friends. They had done this every lunch period, and the gang were each quickly becoming good friends.

"Oh yeah! That's one thing I've been wondering." Chance broke the conversation they had all been keeping

"What?" Tsubaki asked in her usual kind tone

Chance smiled, Tsubaki always talked like that and he couldn't help but be happy around her. He didn't see anything _romantic _happening between them in the future though. "All of you look really young, how old are all of you?"

"Oh yeah, I had been wondering that too!" Jake chimed in. Chance smiled, Jake had definitely become more comfortable with people in general. He could talk to a lot of people with his usual enthusiasm, and without shying behind Chance.

"Oh well I'm 16" Maka said

"Me too" said Soul

"I'm uhh, I'm ….. 16 I think" Crona stammered

"I am too!" Blackstar said almost too enthusiastically

"I'm actually 17" Tsubaki said

"Me and Patty are 17 too" Liz chimed

"I'm 16" Kid coolly explained

"We're both 17!" Callie and Felina had said in unison. Both of them were in an unusually cheery mood, despite having lost the fight earlier

Chance hung his head at the new found information. "Damn I feel old now, I'm 18."

"Hah don't let that bother you buddy! I'll be 18 in just over a week." Jake said trying to cheer his friend up.

Chance smiled "Well I guess as long as I have some one else in my age bracket I'll be good!" Chance responded

Jake smiled back, and then stood up "I'll be back I gotta use the restroom." Jake said and walked off toward the hallway"

After Jake had gotten out of earshot Callie turned to Chance with a smirk, "You know you can be PAINFULLY coy."

Chance perked up then rubbed his head as he blushed and smiled his toothy grin, "You caught that did ya?"

"So that makes Jake's birthday next weekend sometime, right?" Soul questioned.

"Yup, I was wanting to throw a party for him..."

* * *

Jake was in the restroom washing his hands. He was drying his hands when...

"Well, look at this kat." A familiar voice said in a cold, malicious tone.

Jake turned around to find two people he hoped to never see again. It was Sky and his stocky cohort Drake.

"So.." Sky stated as he walked a couple of steps toward Jake. "Does big bad kat think he can take us without his meat head friend?"

Jake said nothing, instead he answered Sky with his fist straight into his nose. Sky cried out upon getting hit and staggered back a few steps while he held his nose. "Don't you EVER insult him!" Jake replied

"Mother fucker!" Sky spat. "Drake!" Drake was surprised by his friends outburst and jumped slightly, "Weapon, NOW!"

"But...Sky you kinda...he didn't even..." Drake was met with a fist to his cheek.

"I SAID NOW!" Sky yelled

Jake was surprised to see how this so called friend treated the other. Drake had obediently turned into his weapon form and now Sky sat poised to lunge at Jake.

* * *

Chance had finished eating and was waiting for Jake to return. Most of the gang had left aside from Blackstar and Tsubaki. Mostly because Tsubaki was reading her book and Balckstar had decided to take a quick nap.

"It's been over 10 minutes!" Chance thought. "Jake never takes this long...is it creepy that I know that?" Chance stood up, "Imma go check on Jake, I'll be back."

Tsubaki smiled and nodded

* * *

Jake was jumping backward, evading a stab from Sky.

"Sky don't hurt him!" Drake said

"Shut it!" Was his reply

Sky made another leap at Jake and was caught by Jake placing his now blade form arm between two of the blades on the spear head.

"Hah! You really are weak without him aren't you?!" Sky yelled

Jake narrowed his eyes at sky and quickly broke the hold he had him in. Jake made a slash at Sky, who narrowly avoided the cut to his abdomen. That was not Jake's ultimate goal though. He rushed at Sky before he had time to recover and shoulder checked him. Sky grabbed his stomach and hunched over "You fucking, bitch!" he screamed

"Now who can't defend themselves?" Jake questioned

Sky's eyes flooded over with anger and he wildly lunged at Jake. Jake wasn't prepared for this, all he could manage to do was put his blade up in hope that it would block him. Jake waited for the impact and felt nothing.

"Hunh?" He looked back up to see Chance! Chance had pushed the attack away and diverted the spear into the wall with his arm. Chance's eyes were ablaze with anger.

Chance walked up to Sky and picked him up by the collar of his shirt and threw him down onto the floor. "Don't you EVER FUCK with my brother again. Or next time, I'll do more than throw your sorry ass on the ground."

Drake had returned to his kat form and was kneeling beside Sky to check if he was alright. Sky grimaced and quickly got up and ran off. "Sky!" Drake called after him. Drake turned and bowed to Chance and Jake in apology, "I'm so sorry!" was all he said before he ran off after his "friend."

Chance's anger had dissipated. For Jake it was weird to see Chance angry, if he ever did it was only a couple of seconds when he stubbed his toe or something, but nothing like this. Chance turned to check on Jake, the anger that was in his eyes was now replaced with genuine worry. "Are you alright Jake. Did he get you?" Chance began giving Jake the once over. The memories of when they ad first met began to flood over Jake, making him smile.

"No, you think I'd let a punk like him get a shot in?" Jake answered. Jake's smile had vanished when his eyes fell on the arm Chance used to divert the spear. "Oh, Chance!" was all Jake managed to say as he held up the arm to observe the cut.

Chance turned his attention to the now blood covered arm. "Oh I didn't even notice it." Chance winced, "And maybe it was better that I didn't."

"Come on! Let's wash it off" Jake hurried his friend to the sink. As he was washing it up Blackstar entered the restroom because Tsubaki had asked him to go and look for Chance and Jake.

"I'll go get Naigus sensei!" was all he said before running off down the hall.

Jake was lapping water onto the wound and removing all of the excess blood. After he had done so he grabbed a few paper towels and put them on the wound to try and mitigate some of the bleeding. The two sat in silence for a bit until Jake and Chance's eyes met awkwardly, making Jake turn his head away and blush. "So uh...you really think of me as your brother hunh?"

Chance's ears perked up and he blushed slightly. "Uh yeah, well, I mean." Chance sighed, "With all of the things we've gone through already and how well we get along it is almost like we are brothers. I don't usually believe in all of the usual fate and destiny stuff but..." Chance turned his gaze onto Jake now, who returned the look, "...I think we were supposed to be friends from the get-go Jake."

Jake blushed and was about to say something. Out of pure heat of the moment he was gonna tell Chance how he felt. But, just then Naigus came rushing into the restroom with Blackstar in toe. Jake snapped from his stupor and moved away from Chance to let Naigus inspect the wound. During the time Chance was getting patched up Jake filled Naigus in on the situation, she suggested that she tell this to Shinigami-sama, but Jake decline saying that the situation was under control. Naigus finished patching Chance up with a wrap-around bandage and she said it was only a light cut and would heal up soon. After she left Chance, Jake and Blackstar made their way back to the lunch room.

Jake and Chance had their arms wrapped around each other and Jake began to think this would be how they walked if they were dating. "Wait a second..." Jake thought, "DID I JUST GET FRIEND ZONED!?"

* * *

**P.S. Next chapter should be more on time but that depends ;P  
**


	6. Chapter 5: 18 and Bonding

**AAAAAND the next chapter is up! Sorry this one took so long, but the original file I had got deleted on accident soooo I had to start all over about a week ago. Anyway, I will try to keep posts going up every two weeks unless I upload earlier than that for some reason. Thanks for the reviews also! They are really helpful and encouraging when I hit a rut :D. Just know that answers to whatever questions or observations you make in them may be answered later in the story ;). Enjoy!**

* * *

Jake, Callie and Felina were walking down the halls of DWMA after classes were over. It had been a week since their sparing match and since then it seemed as if they were all best of friends. Sure they had been friends before, but now it seemed that they were always together as a group. Chance however, was gone at this moment. Earlier during class he asked if he could leave because he felt sick, Sid was skeptical at first until he saw Chance's face pale. Jake offered to go home to look after him, but Chance said that he'd be okay. "Besides, I need someone's notes to copy!" he added with a wink when he left the classroom.

The trio had reached the courtyard outside the school when Felina spoke up, "Hey Jake, would you mind waiting for me and Callie here?" Jake cocked his head in confusion, "We wanna go check on Chance too. Besides, we haven't seen your guy's place yet!" She said tossing in an innocent smile

"Oh, okay sure! See you guys in a bit!" Jake said as he waltzed over to a bench and sat down as the two walked off.

* * *

Callie and Felina were walking down the halls to their dormitory. When they reached their door Callie pulled out the key and unlocked it. The she-kats walked in and set down all of their school stuff. Callie walked over to her mirror next to her bed and started to adjust her hair. "I can't wait to see the look on Jake's face when he see what Chance did!"

"Yeah! You gonna bring the camera? It's gonna be priceless!" Felina responded. Callie answered with a nod. "Jeez, if Jake loved Chance before this, this will drive him absolutely head-over-heels!" Felina thought.

* * *

Jake was sitting on the bench that Felina and Callie had left him at, he was tapping his foot out of clear annoyance. "Jeez , girls take forever don't they?" Jake tossed his head back and put his paws behind it. "Then again...Chance isn't exactly any better is he." Jake smiled to himself. Jake stretched out and then sat buck up in his original position. Jake's smile instantly faded when he was welcomed with the sight of someone he'd rather avoid. About 20 feet in front of him was Sky's partner Drake. Strangely though he was by himself. Drake's ears perked up and he turned immediately to see Jake's rather displeased gaze. Drake tucked his head in, and was about to walk away. He took two steps forward, then immediately turned back to Jake and walked towards him.

Jake stood up intently, "Where's your partner? Your not going to attack me are you?" he asked in a flat tone.

Drake shrank back from the cold comment. "Ummm..." Drake brought his eyes to level with Jake's. "I'm...I'm sorry!" Drake suddenly said as he bowed to Jake.

Jake's expression softened, mostly out of surprise. "What?" he asked, his tone now back to normal and a bit concerned.

Drake straightened up again, "I said I'm sorry...for what Sky did...has done." Drake moved his eyes away from Jake's. "I don't ….. I don't expect you to forgive either of us, but …. what Sky did is inexcusable. I...I'll try to make sure we go nowhere near you and your friend." Drake turned was about to leave until Jake put his paw on Drake's shoulder.

"Wait." Drake turned his head to see Jake, "Why are you partnered with such a douchebag? You seem to be too nice for him.."

Drake turned around instantly "DON'T CALL HIM..." Jake pulled back at the sudden outburst and Drake eyes grew wider, when he saw this "oh sorry...Sky isn't …. hasn't always been a bad guy. It's only been the past year or so that he started acting like this. Ever since his folks split..." Drake trailed off. Jake perked up at this, he recalled that Chance's parents were most likely divorced. "What if Chance had turned out like that?" He thought.

"Look...I gotta go...so.." Drake broke the silence and stepped back from Jake a couple steps.

"Hey..." Jake rubbed the back of his head, "I...forgive you." Drake raised his head from it's usual drooped position. "I'm pretty sure I can't forgive Sky just yet but..." Jake stared directly into Drake's eyes, "...ummm, maybe give into him less? Don't stop being his friend, sometimes all it takes is a real friend to turn someone around,but stand up for yourself sometime." Drake didn't say anything. Jake gave him a slight smile, "Maybe then you can bring him back to how he used to be." Drake responded with a nod and a smile. He waved as he turned and began to walk down the stairs leading up to DWMA.

"Well, at least I know he's not such a bad guy." Jake thought

Jake sat back down on the bench he was on and resumed waiting for Callie and Felina. A few minutes later the two she-kats finally reappeared. Felina was toting her backpack with her. After Jake complained to them about taking so long he finally took note of the backpack, which he thought she would put away.

"I've brought some stuff to give Chance and help him feel better!" was all she said to Jake's puzzled looks. Jake simply shrugged and the trio walked toward his and Chance's apartment.

The trio walked along making typical conversation until..

"So you excited to be an adult -on-18?"

"If you really call that being an adult then suuuuuuuure!" Jake said with a slight sarcasm

"What, you don't think you're an adult at that age?" Callie questioned

"Just look at Chance!" Jake replied, causing all of them to laugh

As the three were walking along they passed by a small store without really taking notice to it. Jake had a thought just then.

"Hey, hold up a sec!" Jake said. He quickly turned and ran into the store leaving Callie and Felina waiting outside. A few minutes later Jake came back out with a single bag in paw.

"What did you get?" Callie questioned

Jake smiled as he opened up the bag to show the she-kats. "I got Chance some licorice and a couple of chocolate bars!"

Callie giggled, "I didn't think Chance to be the type to have a sweet tooth."

"He's usually not," Jake said as they started to walk the last bit to his and Chance's apartment, "but he absolutely loves licorice! I've never seen him turn down chocolate either" Jake said while sticking out his tongue

"I'm not exactly sure candy is the best thing for a cold though" Felina said with a slight chuckle

"Well it'll make him happy at least!" Callie chimed in

* * *

Chance opened up the curtains that Jake had put over the door leading to the balcony from their apartment. He saw Jake carrying a bag and walking with Callie and Felina. "Perfect! Just as planned!" he thought to himself. He closed the curtains and turned around to everybody in the apartment. "Alright everyone get ready!"

* * *

The trio walked into the apartment lobby. They took the stairs up to the top floor where the apartment was located. "Okay, here we are!" Jake said when they got to the end of the hall to apartment 310.

"Corner apartment. Nice!" Felina said with her usual fervor, trying to hold back the excitement she felt. Jake pulled out his key and stuck it in the lock. Huge grins played across Callie and Felina's faces. Jake opened the door, "Chance are you feeling..."

"SURPRISE!" At that moment several people let off confetti poppers. Jake jumped back out of shock, right into Felina and Callie, who were prepared to catch him.

"Wha?" was all he could say as he tried to make sense of what just happened

"It's a surprise party silly" Callie said with her wide smile. She and Felina walked Jake into the apartment. Jake took a look around as he walked in, he saw the entire group standing around the apartment, all smiling at him.

"Happy birthday buddy!" Chance said as he walked up to Jake. Callie and Felina let go of Jake and took a step back.

"Who?" Jake asked, still not fully able to process what was happening

"It was all Chance-kuns idea!" Tsubaki chimed in

"Wait but...you weren't actually..." Jake questioned

"Nope, when does Chance Furlong ever get sick?" Chance answered

"So, Callie and Felina took so long..."

"To make sure everyone had time to get here." Jake stood aghast for a few seconds, until he dipped his head down. Chance's smile changed to a slightly worried one, "Hey, you o..."

Jake suddenly jumped up into the air while thrusting his fist upward, "LET'S PARTY!" Chance jumped back and tripped making him land on his butt. Everyone started laughing, including Chance as he stood back up. The group did exactly as Jake had suggested, for a while there was a variety of music being played, courtesy of DJ Furlong who had put some of Jake's favorites ahead of time. Everyone was talking to each other and in general having a great time.

"Hey Chance!" Soul called from the living room.

Chance turned his head toward Soul from the kitchen were he, Jake and Jackie were talking, "Whats up?"

"You got anything good for this?" Soul said pointing to Chance's xbox

Chance got a huge grin on his face and looked at Jake, who immediately knew what Chance was going to do. "Wait Chance!". But to no avail, Chance had already run off to the back of the apartment where he kept all of the rockband equipment. Everyone waited in more-or-less silence waiting on Chance, as Jake was dragging his paw down his face as he waited for the embarrassment to come. After a few minutes Chance came back out with all of the equipment, his grin not having faltered a bit.

"So who want's to play!?" Everyone got excited and immediately started groping for the instruments. "Now hang on, hang on!" Chance said as he walked over and began to set up everything. "I think Mr. Birthday-boy over there should play first!"

"Yuuuup, exactly what I thought he'd do." Jake thought flatly.

Chance walked up to Jake and held out the mic expectantly. "I don't think I really wanna..." Jake said, obviously nervous.

"Come on, please buddy?!" Chance's eyes widened

"DAMN IT I CAN'T SAY NO TO THOSE EYES!" Jake screamed in his mind

"No way he can say no now!" Jackie and Felina thought

Jake heaved out a sigh and smiled slightly, "Fine, Chance. But I'm only gonna do ONE song!" Jake said as he took the mic from Chance's paws

Chance smiled his toothy grin and walked back in front of the television. Jake followed him. "Alright who wants bass and who wants drums?"

"Oi, I'll take drums!" Soul chimed. "And Maka will take bass!"

Soul ran over and grabbed the bass guitar and shoved into Maka's hands. "But I don't know how to play!" She retorted

"So what song are we gonna do?" Soul questioned ignoring Maka

"I dunno, Jake gets to pick!" Chance replied

"Hmmm..." Jake hummed to himself as he scrolled through the available songs. Nothing really caught his eye, there was Journey which was always good but he wasn't feeling it. He was about to just give the pick over to Soul or Maka until. Jake gasped "WERE DOING PARAMORE!" he shouted almost out of nowhere

Everyone fell into an awkward silence. "Way to be subtle there Jake" Jackie thought to herself

Jake made note of the silence and turned from his position in front of the television. He rubbed the back of his head and giggled slightly out of embarrassment

"ALRIGHT PARAMORE!" Chance bellowed as he selected it. The silence was effectively broken with everyone's chuckles and snickers. Jake was a bit relieved, but still nervous as all hell though.

"They're not gonna make fun of you, they're your friends. Besides I'm good at this, and Chance will back me up on that." Jake though, a smile playing across his face as the song had just started. Chance was hitting every note like he usually did, Soul and Maka were finding it hard to adjust to, especially so for Maka, but they made do. Jake waited for the song to start, he knew the exact time it did as he had listened to the song many times. "Deep breath" he though just before the first lyrics came up. "NO, sir. Well I don't wanna be the blame, not any more." Jake began. He didn't even need to look at the screen to know what notes to hit. He hit every single one flawlessly, his anxiety clearly abated. Everyone was quite as Jake was singing, many of them caught in pure awe. Felina was snapping pictures all the while.

"I didn't know Jake could sing!" Liz whispered.

"Yeah he's really good!" Kid responded. Many more of these whispers went around, not too loudly as not to distract Jake. He still heard them though and this only drove his mood upward, he really got into the song, moving around as certain parts came up and even dancing slightly. He even got Chance to join in on some of the vocal parts, apparently Chance had known the song too. "And that's what you get when you let your heart win. Whoa-oa-ho-hooo" Jake finished the song and everyone clapped and cheered.

"Whooo Jake!" Jackie called from the kitchen

"Your so good!" Maka chimed

"Encore!" Callie cheered

Chance walked over and put his paw on Jake's shoulder, getting his attention. "See, nothing to be nervous about!"

Jake smiled shyly, "Damn, read me like a book hunh?" Chance responded with just a smile.

"Alright give me this!" Blackstar walked up and took the mic from Jake's paws, "I'll show you all how to do it right!"

Jake and Chance gave each other a look and shrugged. Chance handed the guitar to Liz and the two rejoined the crowd. The new group selected Everlong by Foo Fighters. As soon as the first lyrics came up Blackstar began singing...horribly. Everyone was covering their ears

"Ahhh, I think mine are bleeding!" Soul cried

"It's like torture!" Felina yelled. Tsubaki just stood at the side with an embarrassed smile

Chance and Jake were equally covering their ears with their paws. "Well he's got character that's for sure" said Jake. The song finished, to everyone's enjoyment, and Blackstar had a huge smile on his face until he turned and saw everyone looking …. well almost in pain.

Suddenly there was a loud banging coming from the room below them, followed by some yelling. "PUT THE OTHER GUY BACK ON!" Everyone stood for a couple seconds until they all simultaneously broke into a huge laughing fit, including Blackstar.

The group continued to play, this time excluding Blackstar from the mic. Jake took it up a couple more times and received nothing but praise and applause. After a while it had gotten late and...

"Alright everyone!" Chance called out. Everyone grew quiet. "I've been waiting all night for this, let's give Jake his cake!"

Jake perked up out of confusion, "Hunh?" without any time to properly ask, Jake was gripped by his shoulders by Callie and Felina and led to the table and sat down. Chance was doing something over at the counter and Crona had dimmed the lights. Everything got silent as Chance turned around, a large birthday cake in paw, with 18 candles lit up.

Chance walked up to the table, everyone gathered around it and Jake, Felina whispered in Jake's ear, "He baked it himself." Jake's eyes slightly grew at this. Chance set the cake down on the table.

Chance's expression was genuinly soft when he set it down and looked at Jake. "Happy birthday, bud." Jake looked at the cake, it looked just like one that you could find at a bakery ,you couldn't deny Chance's skills in the kitchen. "Make a wish!" Chance said his smile widening as he saw Jake admiring the cake.

Jake dipped his head slightly, tears beginning to well up in his eyes but not quite forming. "I'm so damn lucky. To have all of them...but especially you Chance" he thought. Jake leaned forward and with one breath put out all of the candles.

Everyone clapped, "So what did you wish for?" Maka asked

Jake gave a small glance at Chance, "Doesn't matter" he said with a huge smile. "I think I'm okay with Chance just being my brother for now...just for now." Jake thought

Chance cut up the cake and everyone stayed and hung out for a while longer. After some time everyone began to head home, the last one's remaining were Jackie and Kid, although Kid was there mostly to make sure everything ended up being symmetrical. After everything was cleaned Jake and Chance led the two out of the building. After seeing the two off, they walked back to their apartment in silence, but it was in no way awkward. When they got to the apartment Chance opened the door and held it open for Jake, and then closed it after Jake was through. Chance heaved a contented sigh and turned "So did you like your.." Chance was cut off by a hug from Jake. "What's this for?" Chance asked with a slight chuckle.

"Thank you." Jake answered. Chance cocked his head in a bit of confusion. "I've...never really had a party before, at least not like that. I never really had that many friends, so when it came to birthdays it was usually just me and my parents, and maybe a couple people from school, but they were never really friends. Jackie was the first consistent friend I had ever had. But now...thank you so much Chance!" Jake tightened the hug a bit.

Chance smiled warmly and returned Jake's hug, "Any day buddy, any day." The two held the embrace for a while then Jake pulled back and looked at the clock, it was going on 11.

"Jeez, time flew by! I guess I should hit the shower." Jake said with a wink

"Yeah, you don't exactly smell good" Chance said while pinching his nose and sticking out his tongue. Jake lightly cuffed him on his head and walked off toward their bedroom to fetch his towel, Chance waited to hear the bathroom door shut, then walked over to the closet in the living room. "I can finally get this down without him noticing!" he said with an exasperated sigh. Chance ran back to the bedroom and set Jake's gift, wrapped in a long box with blue wrapping paper and a golden bow. "Thanks for the tips Jacqueline!"

* * *

A few days ago

Chance pulled out his cell while he was at the store, he had managed to slip out while Jake was busy with homework. He played off a story that there were some food items they needed, but really he was looking for a second gift for Jake.

After a few rings the person Chance was calling picked up, "Hello?"

"Hey Jackie! Could you help me real fast?"

"Sure, what's up?"

"Okay so I'm looking for a second gift for Jake, I already got him this sweet Linkin Park hoodie but I don't know what else to get him."

Jackie thought for a few seconds, "Oh, you know that watch he always wears!?"

"Yeah?"

"Why don't you get him a cleaning kit for it? I don't think he's ever cleaned it and it's got some rust spots and nicks. There are some pretty decently priced one's I'm sure!"

"Alright! I'll go see if they have any! Thanks Jackie!"

"Yup! And be sure to wrap it up in either blue or a goldenrod color!"

"Hunh?"

"Those are some of Jake's favorite colors!"

"Oh alright, Thanks!"

"Yup bye!"

* * *

"That cleaning kit better be extremely effective! I payed $35 fort it! Jake deserves it though." Chance thought. He heard the shower turn off and quickly stuffed the present underneath Jake's bed. HE then ran over to his bed, quickly stripped to his boxers and lied down. Jake came strolling in without a shirt on a few minutes later, obviously in a good mood.

He looked over to see Chance lying down flipping through one of his textbooks. "I see someone's ready for bed" Jake joked. He put his stuff into his closet and took off his jeans. He went over to turn off the lights.

"Hold up!" Chance said abruptly just before Jake had actually managed to turn off the lights.

"What?"

"Before you do that, go take a look under your bed." Chance motioned toward Jake's bed with his head and winked.

Jake's expression became puzzled, but he did as Chance said and walked over toward his bed. He reached under and felt the present that was sitting there, not knowing that it was one until he pulled it out. "Whaaaat? Chance, you didn't have to!" Jake said as he admired the wrapping job, they were his two most favorite colors, and done so well too!

"Yeah I did! Go on open it!" Chance was now sitting on the edge of his bed

Jake sat on his bed and slowly undid the wrapping as he didn't want to ruin his friends work. After carefully pealing back all of the wrapping paper he opened the box that everything was held in. "Whoa!" Jake said seeing the hoodie with the Linkin Park label facing him. "This is awesome!" he aid quickly pulling it out. He heard a slight thunk on his bed when he did so and lowered the hoodie to see what else had fallen out. He saw a black kit of sorts and picked it up with a puzzled look.

"It's a cleaning kit for your watch!" Chance said with his toothy grin

Jake suddenly perked up, "Does it..."

"Yup! Removes rust, stains, and nicks!"

Jake lowered the kit from eye level and got a warm smile on his face, "Chance, I don't know what to say."

""Thank you" usually works!" Chance said with a giggle

"No, that's not enough." Jake's smile hadn't faded...but now a few tears were rolling down his cheeks.

Chance's expression became worried instantly. "Whoa, whats wrong buddy?" he asked in a soft tone. Chance stood up, but Jake put his paw up in a "stop" motion.

"It's nothing." He said as he wiped the happy tears away. "It's just, even though we've only known each other for a short time, I feel closer to you than I have anyone else in my life. " Jake turned his head to Chance, his smile widening. "And, I'm really happy that we became friends Chance."

Chance smiled, he could tell that Jake was more than sincere. "I am too buddy, and..." Chance sat back down on his bed, "I feel the same, more-or-less." Chance smiled warmly back at Jake. They held eye contact for a few seconds.

"Oh yeah!" Jake quickly got up and ran to the kitchen area where he had left the bag he got for Chance earlier. He came back in a matter of seconds. "I got these for you when I thought you were sick!" Jake said handing the bag to Chance. Chance opened the bag, puzzled, until he saw it's contents.

"LICORICE!" He cried quickly taking the candy from the bag and tearing it open, his tail swishing behind him.

"Thought you'd like that!" Jake said. He walked back to his bed and plopped down.

After a few ravenous bites from his treat Chance spoke up, "So, What's up with that watch anyway? I always see you wear it."

Jake turned to look at Chance, then to his watch. It was a metal banded watch with a lot of fade spots and rust. The crystal was nicked in many places. "It was the last gift my grandmother gave to me before she passed away."

"Oh, you were close to your grandmother?"

"Yeah, I spent a lot of time with her as a kid. In fact she kind of took care of me more than my own mom." Jake looked over to see Chance's sad expression. "Oh, not like she was a bad mom at all!" Jake said while waving his paws, "Both of my parents had jobs that took up a ton of time. After a I turned 10 or so my mom got a different schedule with a promotion and was able to spend more time with me. I still saw my grandma a lot though."

"So the watch is kinda a remembrance thing?" Chance asked. Now having shifted his position so that he was laying on his belly and a pillow under his head.

"Yeah, you prolly think it's stupid hunh?"

"Nah, I think it's kinda cute actually." Jake blushed. "What, guy can't say something's cute?"

Jake shook his head. "Nah, I actually hate all of those types of dispositions" Jake said while sticking out his tongue. "Eh, he didn't directly call me cute, but I'll take it!" Jake thought, a small smile dawning on his face. He turned to notice that Chance was still looking in his direction and, admittedly, panicked a bit. "So, uh, on this topic, whats up with the necklace?"

Chance pulled up the necklace from it's resting place on the pillow, "This?"

"No what other necklace?" Jake said snidely with a smirk. Jake had never really looked before but he noticed the necklace pendant was a paper airplane

Chance flipped Jake off making Jake chuckle, "Well it's nothing quite as intricate or emotional as yours. This was just kind of a going away...well more of a friendship gift than anything. My friend Gary that I told you about gave it to me just before he left for Germany."

"You ever gonna call him?"

"He didn't bring a phone, and I only just recently got this cell phone so he has no clue what my number is."

"How are you two ever gonna meet up again?"

"He said he'd be coming to DWMA a few years from now and I told him I'd see him here." Chance said with a smile

"I like that plan." Jake said. Jake stretched out, as he had been sitting in the same position for a while now when he noticed Chance's guitar sitting on it's stand. "So, do you think you can ever make good on playing me something on that thing" Jake motioned with his head toward Chance's guitar.

"Maybe tomorrow, but it requires my amp which can be pretty loud. And seeing as it's.." Chance looked at the alarm clock on his desk, "past one, I don't think our neighbors would be so appreciative."

"Yeah prolly not!" Jake laughed

"So mind if I ask another question?"

"Sure!"

"What is that universalist-uninarian thing you were talking about a while back?"

Jake giggled, "Unitarian, and lets see." Jake thought of how he would explain it to his friend. "It's more or less a religion of peace. They accept every other religion and person regardless...with the exception of satanism and such" Jake laughed. "If your gonna ask why, I went to that church because it gelled with me, I share a lot of their basic ideals and I personally hate it when other religions put certain one's down.." Jake stopped and put his paws over his mouth having realized what he just said

"If you think you offended me you didn't, I hate that too, and everyone who knew me at church knew that too."

Jake heaved a sigh of relief , "So," Jake shifted uncomfortably, he was just about to ask something that may make his friend mad. "Ummm..." Jake, tried to find the best way to approach the question, but there really wasn't one, "were your parent's ….divorced?"

Chance's expression changed to an angry one. No, anger didn't quite describe it, it was more like rage. Jake winced back when he saw the expression, he had never seen such a face on Chance. Chance's expression went back to norm when he saw his friends reaction, "Sorry, that wasn't you. Let's just say me and my dad aren't exactly on good terms. " Chance heaved out a sigh, "But yeah they were divorced, for 5 years now."

"So why the...resentment for him?"

Chance sighed again and shifted to lying on his back. "He..he was a god damned addict, Jake." Jake's mouth fell open slightly, but he didn't say anything. He knew that for times like this it was sometimes just better to listen. "He missed some things in my life but that wasn't the big thing. The worst was how he'd treat my mom when he was under. He wouldn't ever do things like hit her, but the things he said..." Chance winced, when he recalled. Jake got up and moved over to Chance's bed, where he sat on it's edge. "It always kept me up at night, when he'd yell and scream. I'd...I'd always find her in tears. But she loved him, she loved him a lot. So she "couldn't" leave him. So, when he filed for divorce..."

"Wait it was him that filed?" Jake couldn't help the curiosity

"Yeah,he said he couldn't stand putting her through that, but that was all damned lies. He just didn't want to be kept from his drugs in any way. My mom was a wreck when it had gone through, her last words to him that day were "I still love you." But no, instead of dealing with things like a man, he just ran away and ended up hurting more people than when he was with her. ...We lost all contact with him more or less, aside from when he'd call on my birthday, or the alimony checks. I don't see how he kept his CEO position, but he did, and my mom was a well known nurse so we did just fine financially. ..She never dated, she never went out, she still had pictures of him everywhere, I think she was clinging to some hope that he'd get better and come back. But I knew better, he would never change, he'd just hurt her even more if he came back. He never even talked to her when he called, aside from getting her to put me on the phone. "

"So I guess he was the one who originally helped you pay for the apartment?"

"Yeah, and that required more contact with him than I ever cared for. Besides that..." Chance was interrupted by Jake pulling his pillow from underneath his head. "Hey, what.."

Jake put the pillow in front of his belly, "Punch the pillow." was all he said in response. Chance cocked his head. "It's not good to build up so much anger and not let it out." Jake replied to the confused look. Chance paused for a moment and opened his mouth to talk, "You can tell me more some other time, now just do it!" Jake stopped him. Chance sat for a couple seconds, then he readied his fist. In one smooth motion Chance let a powerful punch into the pillow...and of course into Jake's stomach. Jake winced back at the impact, the pillow absorbed some of it, but it still hurt. Jake couldn't help it, he doubled over and held onto his stomach due to the pain.

"Oh god! Sorry Jake are you OK?! Ahh, I didn't realize I punched that hard." Chance was standing up now in front of Jake's position on the bed, holding onto his friends arms.

Jake chuckled slightly. "You know," Jake sat up so that he was facing Chance, "Your cute when you're worried." Chance blushed a bit and stepped back. Jake started to panic and quickly came up with an excuse, "What?! I...I' thought you said guys could say things were cute?!" Jake stammered.

Chance paused for a second and then chuckled a bit "Guess I did hunh? That pillow thing really helped too!" Chance said with a smile

Jake heaved a sigh of relief when Chance bought the excuse, "You are getting WAY to close Jake!" He thought to himself. Just then a cold Autumn wind blew in through the open window. Jake and Chance, both still only clad in their boxers, shivered as it brushed past them.

"I don't know about you..." Chance started, "But I could go for some hot cocoa about now!"

Jake smiled, "That sounds awesome!" Jake and Chance walked to the kitchen and started preparing their drinks. They ended up staying up for a couple more hours, simply talking while watching a favorite movie of theirs. After they had stopped talking and actually began to watch the movie, Jake had quickly fallen asleep. Jake fell over from his position on the couch and his head landed into Chance's lap.

Chance was stirred from his partially asleep state when he felt the sudden pressure on his lap. Chance smiled, "I really do feel at least a little better buddy, thanks for just being there." Chance whispered. "Hunh?" Chance put his hand on his stomach, it felt kinda like he had butterflys. "Prolly just gas or something." Chance shrugged it off. Chance then gently moved Jake off of his lap,stood up with almost a drunken stopper due to the lack of sleep he had, picked Jake up without waking him and carried him off to their bedroom, where he lied him down in his own bed. After putting a blanket over him Chance lied down in his own bed and quickly fell asleep, with a smile played across his face.


End file.
